Gas goes down, bill goes up. Arera: +22.4% in April. This is how much the decline in government rebates weighs

Gas bills are rising again despite the fact that raw materials are declining. This is the effect of the “bill decree” which reduced the discounts on bills for families. After 3 months of reductions, the gas bill is growing again for the type1 family in protection, for consumption in April, marking a +22.4% compared to March. This is what Arera has just communicated.

The increase, despite the presence of a slight drop in the average wholesale price last month, is mainly due to the reduction, envisaged by the recent “bill decree” (DL 34/2023), of the UG2 discount component, used in the last year to benefit consumers to offset the increases.

«The increase will probably be perceived less, because it arrives in the period of the year in which the heating is now switched off and gas consumption of families tends to a minimum – says Stefano Besseghini, ARERA president – We must bear in mind that we have taken the road of a return to normality, in which the energy system is called to balance without recourse to state finances to deal with the crisis”.

As regards the component of the gas price to cover procurement costs (CMEMm), applied to customers still in protection, this is updated by ARERA as a monthly average of the price on the Italian wholesale market (the PSV day ahead) and published within the first 2 working days of the month following the reference month.

For the month of April, which recorded a slightly lower average wholesale price than that of the month of March, the price of the gas raw material alone (CMEMm), for customers with contracts under protected conditions, is equal to 44 .83 €/MWh.

As communicated by Arera, the overall increase for the typical user, for consumption in the month of April compared to the previous month, is therefore determined by a slight drop in expenditure for natural gas, – 3.1%, from a drop in the tariff linked to transport and metering expenses, -4.0%, offset by the increase in general charges for the part linked to the UG2, +29.5%. This determines the final +22.4% for the typical family.

Even in the face of the overall increase in the bill for the month of April, in terms of final effects, gas expenditure for the typical household in the rolling year (May 2022-April 2023) is 1532.49 euros, recording a -3 .9% compared to the equivalent 12 months of the previous year (May 2021-April 2022).

Please note that the ‘bill decree’ no. 34 of 2023, for the second quarter of 2023 provided for the reduction of VAT to 5% for gas and zeroed the remaining general system charges. In consideration of the constant reduction in wholesale gas prices, the negative rates of the UG2 tariff component, applied to consumption brackets up to 5,000 cubic meters per year, were instead confirmed to a lesser extent, equal to 35% of the value applied in the first quarter of 2023.

The reaction of consumers was immediate: “The government’s decision to reduce the discounts on system charges in the bill causes gas tariffs to rise in April, with direct effects on consumers’ pockets”. This was stated by Codacons, commenting on the tariff update communicated by Arera.

A 22.4% increase in tariffs brings the average gas bill on the protected market to 1,283 euros per year, with higher spending on an annual basis equal to +235 euros per family – explains Codacons – However, the April tariffs are lower by 34.9% compared to those practiced on the market with greater protection in the same period of 2022, when households paid 123.62 euro cents per cubic meter for gas.

“Fortunately, as we expected, the rise in tariffs determined by the lower discounts in the bill takes place when the heating systems are now off, a circumstance that will limit the impact on consumers – comments the president Carlo Rienzi – Certainly reducing the discounts on system at a time of great uncertainty on the energy front and while inflation continues to be high, it represents an increase in spending that families would have gladly done without”.