Electricity and gas bills, how much would they cost without the discounts and system charges – Corriere.it

The price of gas dropped, reaching 45 euros on March 3 after the fever of 350 euros in August 2022, but this may not be good news. With falling prices, the emergency seems to be over and, also in view of the drop in consumption starting in April when the heating will start to go out, a useful window opens to remove public aid who kept the bills at bay for those who remained in the protected market. Because the resources to refinance the measures, which were covered in the first quarter thanks to funds provided for by the Budget Law, are practically finished and there is no further room for manoeuvre. According to expectations, the government will not extend the discounts and incentives, which end on March 31st (while the social bonus, which has been extended to the Isee threshold of 15 thousand euros, will remain). Aid that serves above all to lighten the gas bills and which, between one thing and another, is worth more than 40 cents: about 31 cents for the discount, another 10 for the VAT reduced to 5 plus 2-3 cents for the charges system reset. In the first quarter, these measures cost around 4.5 billion (3 billion for the discount, 500 million for the zeroing of general system costs and around one billion for the lower VAT revenue).

Bills without aid, price increases instead of discounts

But how much will the end of discounts, incentives and the return of general system charges cost in the bill? Because if it is true that the price of gas collapsed within two months (the Amsterdam TTF travels at 46 euros/MWh, three months ago it was tripled) in any case more than double compared to the pre-crisis situation when it cost around 20 euros. Let’s begin to see what the latest gas bill that has just been updated would have been like (remember that the methane rate update from October 2022 has become monthly and retroactive) without public aid. In total, calculate the Daily Relay, without the discounts, the gas bills for February consumption would have gone up by 30% at 1.3 euros per cubic meter instead of decreasing by 13% to 86.45 euros.

Gas, 718 euros of price increases per year

According to the study by the consumer association, given the prices currently set by Arera for the protected electricity and gas market and assuming that they remain constant, the gas bill on an annual basis would go from the current 1,210 euros to 1,928 euros, an increase of 718 euros for a typical family that consumes 1,400 cubic meters per year, an increase of 59.3 percent. If the government does not renew the discounts on electricity and gas bills expiring on March 31st, from system charges to 5% VAT on gas – says Marco Vignola, head of the energy sector of the National Consumer Union – then from April 1st a sting will take shape that will definitely send household budgets into a tailspin. It should be specified that for gas, the aid will be valid for all consumption in March with the tariffs to be announced at the beginning of Aprilfor which the increases would begin to be seen with the May update relating to April.

Light, +8.6%

As for the light, however, the test bench will arrive sooner. The updating of the tariffs remained quarterly and ex ante, for which the Arera will communicate the new prices by the end of March. Prices that will be valid in the second quarter of the year, when public aid will probably no longer exist or will in any case be very limited. According to the calculations of the National Consumer Union the bill for a typical household that consumes 2,700 kWh kilowatt hours per year and has a committed power of 3 kW would increase by 8.6%, rising from 1,434 euros to 1,558 euros, with an increase in costs of 124 euros. In the end, a family will end up paying 3,486 euros on an annual basis for electricity and gas, against the current 2,644 euros. A cost equal to 842 euros. We do not understand why the government has not yet announced the extension of the discounts, reassuring families. Confidence in the future and the certainty of not undergoing further increases – concludes Vignola – are essential for relaunching consumption. It would be a mistake not to. Silence also reigns on the postponement of the end of the protected light market, which for condominiums and associations, scheduled for April 1, 2023.