A differential of almost + 70% and + 27% for electricity bills separates companies in the Italian service sector from those in France and Spain. This despite the drop in electricity recorded in October when on the Ttf market in Amsterdam it was traded for less than 150 euros per MWh after having exceeded over 700 euros in August while the raw material, gas in the same month was sold to about 100 euros per MWh against 300. The double-digit differential penalizes Italian companies despite the massive aid launched by the Draghi government, which has allocated almost 60 billion to contain the increases, almost double the amount allocated by Madrid and Paris. A strategy that has failed to contain, to limit the increases. Thus, according to the estimates calculated by Confcommercio-Nomisma Energia on Eurostat data using the rates of October 2022 applied to consumption for the entire year, an Italian hotel with a consumption of 260 thousand kWh / year spends 77 thousand euros more on electricity than to a similar structure, for example, in Cannes and just over 40 thousand euros for a hotel in Seville. It is no better for a bar or a business that sells groceries. Italian companies pay much more bills. Only in the case of a non-food shop does the difference taper off but always remain in the double figures: -16% in favor of the French merchant and -11% for the Spanish colleague. From any angle you look at the Italian companies in the trade, tourism and catering are paying the price of paying the highest prices in Europe and with the latest crisis the situation has worsened. “Even if gas prices are decreasing, expensive energy remains the most urgent emergency to face – says Carlo Sangalli, president of Confcommercio -. We ask the Government for a constructive confrontation with the social forces to launch a structural plan in connection with Europe. And – as in the pandemic – immediate support is needed for the companies most affected by the energy crisis ». Of course, France can boast almost independence from gas thanks to an energy mix based on 56 nuclear reactors while Spain has five nuclear, regasification and renewable plants, with a strong prevalence of wind energy. Italy, on the other hand, remained immobile, struck by the Nimby syndrome, not in my courtyard, and by bureaucratic delays. «We are obviously discounting the mistake of not having diversified our energy sources and our suppliers more in recent decades – Confcommercio recalls -. We discount, again, the too many preconceived “no” and the bureaucratic hypertrophy that, at every step, blocks decisions and achievements. Instead, pragmatism and realism are needed to manage – in Europe and in our country – the energy transition process in the name of the necessary convergence between environmental sustainability and economic and social sustainability ». What is worrying are the consequences of the current economic situation, with the energy price increases that are discharged downstream in all production and distribution chains, on all consumption. So far, the government support, about 40 billion euros to families in 2022, compensates for a large part of the income losses, especially for the less well-off families, but they can do nothing against the approximately 77 billion euros loss of purchasing power of liquid wealth. , in the first six months of 2022 alone. This could lead to a reduction in consumption, compared to a scenario with normal inflation, of 5-7 tenths of a percentage point.
