Electricity and gas bills, New Year's blow: unprecedented increases

It will be a New Year’s Eve definitely with bang for households and businesses : yesterday ARERA announced that starting from January 1st the increase of the electricity bill for the typical family in protection will be + 55% , while for gas it will be + 41.8%.

Increases triggered “despite the interventions” of the Government , explains the Authority, specifying that the record increases of raw materials raw materials “would have led to a increase of 65% of the electricity bill and of 59.2% of that of gas “.

Monstrous increases, intervention is not enough of the Government

“The new overtime record increase in the prices of wholesale energy products (almost doubled in the spot markets for natural gas and electricity in the period September-December 2021) and CO2 emission permits, would have led to a increase of 65% of the electricity bill and 59.2% of the gas bill “, explains Arera, who ” confirmed the transitional cancellation of the general system charges in bill and enhanced the social bonus to families in difficulty, based on the provisions of the 2022 Budget Law, with which the Government – in addition to reducing VAT on gas at 5% for the quarter – allocated the resources necessary for the interventions, thereby making it possible to lighten the impact on 29 million households and 6 million micro-enterprises “.

Associations on a war footing

The increases in the electricity and gas tariffs are “monstrous” for Assoutenti and lead the consumer association to submit a complaint to the Antitrust Authority and the EU Antitrust to investigate the speculations taking place on the electricity and gas markets. “The increases decided today by Arera represent a blow to families and businesses and will cause considerable economic damage to the country – says the president Furio Truzzi – The 3.8 billion put into field by the Government, have proved insufficient, and have not avoided the sting that will hit the bills of Italians “.

Of” unprecedented sting that risks becoming a Caporetto for families and small and medium-sized enterprises ”, speaks Marco Vignola, head of the energy sector of the National Consumers Union. According to the study of the National Consumers Union, in fact, for a typical family it means spending in 2022 (not, therefore, according to the rolling year, but from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2022, assuming constant prices), 441 euros more for electricity and 567 euros for gas. A higher overall cost of 1008 euros. “A record increase. Never, since there are quarterly tariff updates established by the Authority, ie since January 2003, have there been such high increases, neither for electricity nor for gas ”continues Vignola. “Now the Government, as promised by Draghi, must lower the bills by taking the money from those producers who have made fantastic extra profits because they have produced low cost energy, then reselling it at the lunar market prices, making speculations beautiful and good “c onclude Vignola.

Caporetto risk for families and businesses

“The increase in energy tariffs weighs on household accounts but also on business costs and makes production and marketing more expensive in a situation strongly conditioned by the Covid emergency “. This is the alarm raised by Coldiretti in commenting on the maxi increases. “The increase in energy expenditure has a double negative effect because it reduces the purchasing power of citizens and families, but also increases the costs of businesses which are particularly significant for agri-food with winter. The cost of energy – continues Coldiretti – is in fact reflected throughout the supply chain and concerns both agricultural activities but also transformation and distribution “.