After the collapse in the price of electricity (-55% in the second quarter of 2023), gas bills continue to drop for those on the protected market. The new tariffs communicated by the Arera Authority for consumption in the month of March (the update from October 2022 has become monthly and retroactive) are down by 13.4% compared to the month of February 2023. The reference price of gas for the average customer is 74.89 euro cents per cubic metre, taxes included. This is the third consecutive drop in gas tariffs (which have been updated every month and not every quarter since October 2022), after that for consumption in February (-13 percent) and in January when the drop was 34%, 2 percent. The drop in the last three months is due to the average performance of the Italian wholesale market (Psv), which is the reference parameter on which the tariff updates of the Arera are based.
Annual expenditure at 1,560 euros
The reduction for the month of March, in terms of final effects, brings gas expenditure for the typical household in the rolling year (April 2022-March 2023) to around 1,560.7 euros, +0.7% compared to the equivalent 12 months of the previous year (April 2021- March 2022). Spending, therefore, remains slightly higher than a year ago and could increase in the future: in the reference month, i.e. March, the aid was still in effect envisaged by the 2023 Budget Law, because they are valid for the entire first quarter of 2023: for this reason, in addition to the 5% VAT reduction on gas, the Arera has canceled the general system charges for gas and confirmed the discount.
In April, the general charges return
But since April the aid has changed. «The government’s decision to restore 65% of system charges in April and 100% from July – comments Marco Vignola, head of the energy sector of the National Consumer Union – once fully operational, it will result in an increase in the bill equal to 459 euros. A very serious choice if we consider that, despite today’s drop and the tax discounts all still in force, the bills remain higher than in normal times». According to the Unc study, in fact, if for a typical guardianship family, the 13.4% drop means spending 162 euros less on an annual basis, the total expenditure in the next twelve months (not, therefore, according to the rolling year, but from 1 March 2023 to 29 February 2024, assuming constant prices), while not quantifying the recovery of charges, remains at the significant figure of 1,048 euros, which added to the 641 of the light taken in April, determine a total sting of 1,689 euros. Furthermore, if the price of gas today falls by 13.4% compared to that of February 2023, compared to the pre-crisis period, i.e. in comparison with March 2021 it is still greater than 6 percent. Compared, then, to the annual expenditure of 2020, the last regular year, equal to 975 euros, now we still pay 73 euros more, + 7.5 percent.