(Finance) – Average increases of 9.5% in two years (from December 2021 to today), with one average expenditure of 466 euros per family. This is what emerges from the investigation carried out by Altroconsumo, relating to drinking water. The Organization took into consideration the water consumption of a family of three who consumes on average 182 cubic meters of water per year (166 liters of water per person per day) and the tariffs applied in most of the capital cities of Province. Remarkable figures compared to the last edition of the same survey, in which the increases were much more limited, reaching an average of 9.7% in four years (2017-2021).
As stated in the report, the increases differ from city to city. Catanzaro is the only capital where the water service bill has not undergone any increase in the last two years, followed by Bari which recorded an increase of only 1%. The autonomous province of Bolzano is in the lead, where the rate reaches 35.4%. Turin, Trento and L’Aquila also performed badly, where the increases exceeded 17%, followed by those of Milan (16.4%), Genoa (14.4%) and Ancona (13.7%).
It is important to underline however that percentage increases do not always correspond to high expenditure incurred by families: among the emblematic cases are Bolzano and Milan, which on the one hand stand out for the high percentage of increases in the two-year period considered, on the other hand they shine for the cheapness of the tariff: in Milan the average expenditure per family is only 163 euros, while in Bolzano 344 euros. Milan also boasts the record of being the cheapest city in the sample: Altroconsumo has estimated that the city’s water tariff is less than one euro per cubic meter (89 cents to be precise). Siena, on the other hand, is the worstwith a price more than four times higher (4.45 euros).
The survey highlighted that the most common expense class is the one that involves annual bills ranging from 370 to 500 euros. This is a cost that gathers the relative majority of the sample (42%) and which sees Alessandria at the extremes with 371 euros and Macerata with 495 euros. The second largest group of cities (25%) is that of the capitals, in which the estimated expenditure per family is between €500 and €700 per year, more precisely from 502 euros in La Spezia to 693 euros in Massa. With the exception of Massa and Lucca, the Tuscan provinces were the most expensive in the survey: Florence recorded an average expense of 742 euros, while Siena with 810 euros per year achieved the record for the capital with the highest water bill. dear of Italy. Among the most expensive cities, i.e. those with a water bill exceeding 700 euros, the only one outside of Tuscany is Frosinone (740 euros), which had obtained the black jersey in the last edition of the survey.