Expensive energy is taking on the profile of a real emergency with costs that have tripled within a year and with prospects of further deterioration.
The measures adopted so far by the government are not sufficient to bring the cost back to levels of sustainability and therefore Confcommercio Nazionale has requested the strengthening of tax credits as early as the third quarter of 2022 as part of the conversion of the “Aid bis” decree law.
Pordenone
A 22 thousand euro electricity bill arrives at the hotel, the owner: “Forced to close some floors”
Laura Venus
For its part, Confcommercio Fipe has decided to launch the “Bills in showcase” initiative with the aim of informing consumers and more generally citizens about the difficult situation that our companies continue to experience after more than two years of restrictive measures due to the pandemic.
“Faced with a phase of renewed emergency – explains the president of Confcommercio Udine Giovanni Da Pozzo -, we intend to stimulate companies to display the latest electricity or gas bills or both and those relating to the same on the windows of their premises. period of a year ago ».
For this purpose, a poster has been prepared under which to hang the bills. The invitation of Confcommercio Udine is to participate in the initiative to raise awareness of public opinion and the media.
120 thousand companies at risk
The rush of energy and inflation close to 8%, almost 80% due precisely to the surge in the prices of energy raw materials, “puts about 120 thousand companies in the service sector at risk between now and the first six months of 2023 market and 370 thousand jobs ”. This is what Confcommercio-Imprese estimates for Italy, which indicates that spending on energy for the tertiary sectors in 2022 will amount to 33 billion, triple compared to 2021 (11 billion) and more than double compared to 2019 (14.9 billions). “A scenario of great concern,” he says, arguing the need for specific interventions and new support measures. Energy costs “are now a real emergency”, comments the president of Confcommercio, Carlo Sangalli.
“The new government will have to give immediate answers by accelerating above all on the European Energy Recovery Fund and setting a ceiling on the price of gas”. In short, «it is vital – he argues – to drastically cut the cost of energy for all businesses, even non-energy and gas-intensive ones.
Otherwise there is the risk of nullifying the economic recovery of recent months ». A scenario that “in the absence of specific interventions and new support measures, risks, also in light of the further restrictions in the supply of gas announced by Russia, of expanding the number of companies that could go out of business and cause a sharp slowdown in the economy in the second half of the year, ”says Confcommercio. Among the most exposed sectors, “the retail trade, in particular the medium and large-scale food distribution which in July saw the electricity and gas bills increase fivefold – the association continues -, restaurants and hotels with triple increases compared to July 2021, transport that in addition to expensive fuel (+ 30-35% from the beginning of the pandemic to today) is now having to stop methane gas vehicles due to the increase in raw material prices; but the freelancers, travel agencies, artistic and sporting activities, business support services and the clothing sector are also heavily affected by this situation, which, after a marginally favorable sales season, is now at having to endure substantial increases “