Effects of the free market. Anyone who expected that the end of the protected market would lead to a reduction in prices for electricity and gas bills was disappointed. And now, on the threshold of the winter season, the increases that have already occurred in recent months are being felt more. Much more.
So much so that for the new contracts for the gasfor example, a variable price contract stipulated today in large cities is more expensive on average by 12.5% than 6 months ago. The calculations based on the offers active starting from November in Italian cities and published on the specific portal managed by Arera and Acquirente Unico are Assium, the association that brings together utility managers. If we consider only the best offer currently available on the free market for a typical family with an average consumption of 1,400 cubic meters per year, the average bill for a fixed price contract varies from a minimum of 1,618 euros per year in Milan, Trento and Trieste to 1,825 euros in Rome: the average price increase in the cities monitored stands at +6.17% compared to the month of May. In Naples the lowest increase (+4.49%), in Milan, Trento and Trieste the highest (+6.6%); the increased expense for this type of contract is on average close to +100 euros per year per user.
For those who choose a variable price contract, the best offer currently available on the free market is higher by almost 190 euros per year, on average 12.5% more: Milan and Trento lead the increases respectively with +13 .28% and 13.49%; the least significant increase, which is still 11.3%, is recorded in Palermo. Fewer differences in the territory for the free electricity market: the best offer available today on the Arera portal is in fact the same in all cities and provides identical conditions in the territory: considered a family with 3 kW of power and a consumption of 2,700 kWh per year, the average bill is equal to 735.08 euros if you opt for the fixed price, slightly less for the variable price, 732.51 euros, 8.43% more than six months ago for the fixed price, with an increase in costs of approximately 57 euros per year per user, and of 7.5% for the variable price (+51 euros per year). Compared to the protected market where vulnerable customers remained, however, the increased expense with these offers stands at around 100 euros per year per user.
«As expected in view of winter and the greater demand for energy by families during the cold months, commercial offers record significant increases in the tariffs offered to the public as an effect of price increases on the markets – explains the president of Assium, Federico Bevilacqua – The consequence is that those who today switch to the free market or decide to change supplier face less convenient economic conditions and will have to dig into their wallets.” «With the protection, the prices of the raw material were decidedly much lower because we know that the purchases were made collectively, as were the so-called marketing costs which referred solely to call center services, the issuing of invoicing for assistance customers and so on. Today, however, with the disappearance of the protected regime, free market companies have understood that they can increase both the price of the raw material and the price of ancillary costs”, say consumers. «The analysis confirms what has been said for some time», «both the protected market for the vulnerable and the free market have not given any benefit to families in terms of bill costs», says Assoutenti. «The solution to the continuous increases in tariffs is a system intervention by the Italian government to lower the overall cost of energy per megawatt hour».