“Companies risk closing or layoff their employees, but we risk non-payment of the condominium installments.” This is how Massimo Romano, administrator of about seventy condominiums in the province of Brescia and local president of Alac, summarizes the great concern that has begun to spread in the sector since the spring, to worsen after returning from holidays, with the arrival of the bills of the electricity in July and then in August.
Estimates
“We had estimated that the costs could increase. But not so much “, explains Romano again:” We already take into account that we have problems with arrears in some condominiums. Each has its own characteristics and history. For example, in a large structure inhabited mainly by families who live on 1,500-1,600 euros per month, last year we had a 3% default, while we expect this year to reach 20 ”.
For Francesco Burrelli, president of Anaci, the situation is even more dramatic: «The increases started in January. The final bills for the 2021-22 management, closed now, show an average increase of 60-70 percent. The budget for 2022-23 will be much higher. There is a danger of not being able to pay. The average arrears before the pandemic in condominiums was around 15% today we are at 35-40 percent. With the looming of secondments, it is a major social problem: 70% of Italians live in condominiums ». Burrelli already at the end of August had raised the alarm for the expensive bills in this newspaper and with a letter to the Prime Minister Mario Draghi. He then reiterated (see Il Sole 24 Ore of 7 September), the priorities for intervention requested of the Government: to bring together the companies that provide energy services around a table, so that a way can be found to defer payments without disconnecting services to everyone. , pursuing only the chronically defaulters and the crafty ones. «We need everyone’s collaboration to help and protect especially those who can’t do it. We are ready to do our part, ”he adds today.
Of the condominiums managed by Massimo Romano’s studio, only a small part recorded dizzying bills, with costs quadrupled. One building, in particular, received a 31,600 euro invoice (for 49,214 kWh) for its consumption in July, and a 32,801 euro bill for those in August (for 43,586 kWh), while for the same months of 2021 it had paid 7,393 respectively ( for 31,369 kWh) for July and 5,720 euros (for 21,121 kWh) for August. These are prices indexed to the Pun, the single national price of the Energy Market Manager. After discounting the increases related to the use of air conditioners in the hot summer 2022, it can be seen that the price increases for the same consumption are around 170 percent. Romano explains: «We have calculated that for a condominium user, including electricity, water and heating, a family that spent an average of 5-6,000 euros in 2021 this year in the worst case will find itself with doubled expenses. Here we paid 60 thousand euros for electricity in 2021. This year we have already spent 104 thousand and there is still no period from September to December. We will reach 140 thousand euros, out of a budget of around 200 thousand euros. It’s something I’ve never seen in forty years. We asked the manager for an installment of six months, they granted us three. We invited the condominiums to bring forward the installment due at the end of September, as an emergency measure. We are working to convene the assemblies and approve the new estimates. Many are not yet aware of the problem, which will explode when the heating is switched on ”, concludes the administrator.
Liquidless condominiums
At this time, condominiums do not have the cash in hand to pay bills with increases. Because the estimates made on the basis of last year’s final balances did take into account some rounding, but certainly not of this magnitude.