While waiting for the possible autumn sting of bills, partial good news comes from the Italian gas prices. In the last two days, the price of gas on the Italian market is almost two thirds lower than the prices on the European market. While in fact the TTF price, listed on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange and a reference point for exchanges in Europe, on Monday reached a peak of 220 euros per megawatt hour, in Italy the values at the PSV (virtual exchange point), which serves as a reference for the Italian market, reached a minimum peak of 80 euros.
From 1 October, with the next tariff update, the method of updating the costs of raw materials will change gas bills for families who are still in protective conditions (today approximately 7.3 million domestic customers, out of a total of 20.4 million, approximately 35.6%).
The Arera in fact has decided to decouple the price of Italian gas from the price set in Amsterdam, reference stock exchange for European gas prices. In particular, the Authority has decided not to use forward prices on the wholesale market as a reference, but the average of the actual prices of the Italian PSV wholesale market. The new method, linked to the emergency situation, will be in force until the end of the gas protection, currently scheduled for January 2023. In other words, we move from taking the forward prices of the Amsterdam wholesale market as a reference no longer, the Ttf, but the average of the actual prices of the Italian PSV wholesale market.
Russian gas resold abroad
In addition to the drop in prices, there is also an “anomalous” circumstance for Italy in recent days, namely the resale of gas abroad. As announced by Snam, manager of the national gas network, al Tarvisio entry point, from where the methane supplied by the Russian giant Gazprom passes, in the last two days 40 million of raw materials arrived (25 + 15) and, of these, 30 (18 + 12) were almost immediately resold abroad. Basically in Italy at the moment there is an abundance of gas, either for the almost full stockpiles (90% as indicated yesterday by the Ministry of Ecological Transition), or for the savings in place thanks to the mild temperatures. Hence the explanation of the export of part of the gas arriving from Russia.
In view of the winter, MITE has launched the National Plan for the containment of gas consumption which aims to save up to 5.3 billion cubic meters of gas, considering the maximization of electricity production from fuels other than gas (approximately 2 , 1 billion cubic meters of gas) and the savings associated with the containment of heating (approximately 3.2 billion cubic meters of gas). To which are added the behavioral measures to be promoted through user awareness campaigns for the purpose of a more virtuous behavior in consumption.