Expensive bills scare Italians: in 10 years + 68.7% for spending 1,625 euros more per family. The electricity case: + 240% compared to 2012

In 10 years, the average annual expenditure of Italians for electricity, gas, water and waste rates has risen overall by +68.7%, an increase in expenditure of 1,625 euros per family, with electricity prices which, compared to 2012 , recorded a record increase of +240%. This was stated by Codacons, which carried out a study to understand how citizens’ spending on domestic utilities has changed in the last 10 years. According to official data, in 2012 the average electricity bill stood at 524 euros per family, while that of gas was equal to 1,277 euros per household – explains Codacons – in 2022, and due to the continuous increases in energy prices, the average electricity bill reached 1,322 euros, while a family spent 1,866 euros on gas. In 10 years, spending on electricity has therefore increased by almost 800 euros (+798 euros) while that for gas by 589 euros, for a total of +1,387 euros per family. – Comparing the details of the tariffs, it turns out that those for electricity set a real record of +240%, going from 19.403 euro cents per kilowatt hour in the last quarter of 2012 to 66.01 euro cents in the same period of 2022. Codacons then analyzes the trend of other domestic users: in 2012 a family spent an average of 310 euros on water supplies, an expenditure which rose to 487 euros in 2022 (+57%). The city with the highest water tariffs is Frosinone, where a family spent an average of 880 euros on the water bill in the last year, against 175 euros in the cheapest city, Isernia. The tariff for waste collection and disposal, on the other hand, went from 253 euros in 2012 to 314 euros in 2022, with an increase of +24.1%. The most expensive city is Catania, with an average expenditure of 595 euros per year, the least expensive is Udine (175 euros per year per family). Overall, therefore, the expenditure of Italian families for electricity, gas, water and waste rises by 1,625 euros per household in 10 years, recording an average increase of 68.7%. In the same period, however, according to official Istat data, the average net income of households increased by only 11.5%, going from 29,426 euros in 2012 to 32,812 euros per year in 2020 (latest Istat data available). «Expenditure for domestic utilities has soared in the last decade, but services have certainly not improved – explains the president Carlo Rienzi – Heavy critical issues are recorded above all on the water front, where bills are affected by the Italian sieve network characterized by huge losses and structural deficiencies that are downloaded on the tariffs. The energy tariffs deserve a separate discussion, which literally went crazy between 2021 and 2022 due to the prices on the markets». «The forecasts for 2023, unfortunately, are not positive – warns Rienzi – gas, after the latest reductions, has reversed course and has already recorded a 22.4% rise in tariffs in April; energy prices continue to suffer from market volatility, while skyrocketing inflation and rising costs will lead to an inevitable rise in water and waste tariffs during the course of the year».