(Finance) – It stands at 30.49 euros/Mwh (or 0.326265 euros per cubic meter) the price of the gas raw material determined by ARERA for vulnerable customers, up compared to 28.73 euros/mwh (or 0.3074 euros per cubic metre) in March. The authority today communicated the value of the gas raw material to cover procurement costs (CMEM,m) which will be applied in April to customers of the vulnerability protection service, which replaced the enhanced protection service starting from January 2024.
The CMEM,m value obtained from the Energy and Gas Authority emerges from the monthly average price on the Italian wholesale market (the PSV day ahead) and is usually communicated within the first 2 working days of the month following the reference month. The month of Aprilin particular, saw wholesale prices rise compared to those recorded in March.
An increase that was offset by reduction of the other components – component to cover supply risks, retail component, transport component – pushing the final price at 100.54 euro cents per cubic meter (-0.9% on March) including taxes.
Meanwhile, consumer associations are protestingwhich talk about a minimum price reduction of gas for vulnerable users, amounting to just one -0.9% (-11 euros in one year).
“The drop in gas rates for the month of April is minimal, and still far from offsetting the sharp increases in gas bills that have occurred in recent years,” he says Assoutientsadding “if you compare the current rates with those in force in the same period of 2021, it turns out that users of the vulnerability today pay more than a third higher bills than they did three years ago. The price of gas for vulnerable customers is indeed greater than 36.9% compared to the one in force on the protected market in April 2021, with the consequence that the average bill is approximately 300 euros higher per household compared to just three years ago”.
Also for Codacons “the mini-reduction” of gas bills for vulnerable users “it is inadequate”, as “it will lead to savings of just 10.5 euros per year”, but “the real problem is represented by the gas tariffs on free market“, where “tariffs are still high for both fixed price and variable price contracts, since contrary to expectations the long-awaited competition did not arise between operators capable of reducing gas bills”.
The National Consumers Union is more optimistic (UNC), which speaks of “excellent news”, even if it recognizes that “the savings are minimal, equal to 11 euros on an annual basis”. There total spending in the next twelve months (not, therefore, according to the rolling year, but from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, in the hypothesis of constant prices), thus drops to 1106 euros, which added to the 546 of the light of the typical family, determine a total expense of 1652 euros. The decline “is a demonstration of how i regulated prices we are still important to protect families’ wallets” even if – it is stated – “the regret remains that the reduction could have been equal to 133 euros if the system charges and the old VAT rates had not been remitted at the beginning of the year. Without these increases, gas would have fallen by 12.8%.”
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