(Finance) – The Maggior Tutela service ends on 1st July 3.7 million non-vulnerable domestic customers, who will automatically switch to the Gradual Protection Service with the supplier selected through an auction. Of the approximately 30.2 million domestic users, 22.7 million are currently served in the free market, while 7.5 million have remained or returned to the Maggior Tutela (3.8 million vulnerable customers who will continue to be served in protection and 3.7 million non-vulnerable who will switch to the Gradual Protection Service).
The conditions of supply of the Gradual Protection Service to which the non-vulnerable customers currently in Greater Protection will be transferred will last just under three years – until 31 March 2027 – at the end of which, in the absence of an express choice, the customers will continue to be supplied by the same seller, but on the market free.
The economic conditions of the Gradual Protection Service they are the same throughout Italy and include the fixed component called “gamma parameter” equal to -72.65 euros/Pod/year. This component will be updated annually by the Authority based on the number of customers supplied in the Gradual Protection Service. The economic conditions relating to the expenditure on energy materials they also include a component to cover energy supply costs equal to the monthly average of the final wholesale price values (PUN ex post) and a component to cover dispatching costs.
From the sum of the “gamma parameter” with the reduction of the marketing components in Maggior Tutela, from 58 to 41 euros/Pod/year, we arrive, on the basis of the elements available to date, at a value for the Gradual Protection Service of approximately -113 euros per year compared to Maggior Tutela. In this regard, Arera recalls that non-vulnerable domestic electricity customers who have already switched to the market
free have the right to re-enter the Maggior Tutela service until 30 June 2024, while vulnerable domestic customers will always retain the right to return to the Greater Protection service. To do so, you need to contact the operator of the Greater Protection service in your municipality. Alternatively, you can call the Consumer Help Desk on the toll-free number 800.166.654.
For the vulnerable customers – those who are in one of the following conditions: over 75 years old, recipient of a social bonus, subject to disability (L.104/92), resident in an emergency housing module or non-interconnected minor island – Arera will continue to update the economic conditions of the Maggior Tutela on a quarterly basis until the auctions provided for by Legislative Decree 181/23 are completed
(cd Energy Security Decree). Furthermore, on the occasion of the first update for vulnerable customers only, the Authority updated the value of the marketing components (Pcv and dispBT) for the Greater Protection, which go from 58 euros/Pod/year to 41 euros/Pod/year. From today’s update – the first for vulnerable customers only – the calculation will be made considering for the “typical customer” consumption of 2 thousand kWh/year, more responsive to the actual consumption of an “average customer”, and published on the Authority’s website together with the usual one calculated on 2,700 kWh/year2.
The update for the next quarter July-September 2024, for the electricity bill of the typical customer therefore marks a +12%. Yes it is indeed Downward trend in natural gas and electricity prices haltedwhich characterized the last quarter of 2023 and the beginning of 2024. Le Energy price estimates (PUN) for the next quarter are increasing to approx 109 euros/MWh. In terms of final effects, the expense for the typical customer in the rolling year (between 1 October 2023 and 30 September 2024) will be approximately 514 euros, returning closer to pre-crisis levels, marking -41.1% compared to the equivalent 12 months of the previous year (1 October 2022 – 30 September 2023). In detail of the individual components in the bill, the final price for typical customer (with annual electricity consumption of 2 thousand kWh) is thus: 24.32 euro cents per kWhincluding taxes, compared to 21.71 euro cents per kWh in the previous quarter. The +12% variation is substantially linked to the overall increase in expenditure on energy materials (+23.8%). Network tariffs (Transport and meter management) and general system charges remain unchanged.
“We are in the presence of an important moment for the evolution of the electricity market. The authority has taken action in time to allow a progressive transition to the free market, respectful of consumer choices and capable of avoiding increases in costs linked to the transition. The collaboration that the banking system is guaranteeing is important to ensure continuity also on the topic of automatic bill payment systems, as a further guarantee for customers – he declares Stefano Besseghini, President of Arera –. From 1 July the focus of the authority will be on monitoring the evolution of market conditions, to allow consumers to have that clarity of conditions that is a prerequisite for any choice”.
According to Assoutenti, the price increases push vulnerable users towards the Gradual Protection Service. “The new electricity tariffs that will come into force from next July 1st on the protected market – he states Assoutenti, commenting on the +12% tariff increase ordered by Arera for the next quarter – further highlight the importance of the resolution approved last night and which allows the 4.5 million vulnerable users to switch to the new Gradual Protection regime. “Despite the tensions on the energy front and the heavy increase decided by the Authority, electricity tariffs on the protected market will be 5% lower in the next quarter compared to the same period in 2023, and even 45.4% lower than in 2022, with a lower expenditure of -509 euros per year per family compared to two years ago – explains the Honorary President and Energy Manager of Assoutenti, Furio Truzzi –. It is undeniable, however, that the new increases in tariffs must push vulnerable users to switch, starting next July 1st, to the Gradual Protection Service, taking advantage of the savings offered by the new regime and the possibility approved yesterday by the Government and Parliament to migrate to the gradual protections through a simple phone call to the Arera Consumer Help Desk. In this sense, we ask for a further effort to carry out a widespread information campaign throughout the territory”.
“The +12% tariff increase ordered today by Arera for electricity bills will only apply to the 4.5 million vulnerable users (over 75s, disabled and economically fragile) who remain in the protected market, and represents an increase in expenditure, compared to the tariffs of the previous quarter, equal to +65.5 euros on an annual basis (from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025); the average electricity bill for those who remain in the protected market will therefore be equal to 612 euros per year” states Codacons, commenting on Arera’s update. The Gradual Protection Service will guarantee – notes Codacons – a average savings of 140 euros per year on your bill compared to the protected market. “Non-vulnerable users who have already switched to the free energy market – Codacons reminds us – can take advantage of these discounts by returning to the greater protection regime, but only if they submit the application by June 30th. Today’s news is that, thanks to a resolution approved yesterday, even vulnerable users will have the opportunity to join the more convenient system of gradual protections starting from July 1st, thus enjoying clear economic benefits”.
L’12% increase in the reference price of electricity for the Greater Protection Service starting from July 1st it is – for Marco Vignola, vice-president of the National Consumers Union – a “bad news, even if the increase was expected, considering the increases in the wholesale markets and the seasonality, i.e. the greater summer electricity consumption due to the turning on of the air conditioners. The good news – continues Vignola – is that the share drops fixed annual marketing price from 58.40 to 41 euros, a reduction which could also remain in the coming quarters.
“Now the fixed annual discount for those who switch to the Gradual Protection Service (STG) on 1 July drops from 131.40 euros to 113 euros compared to the Greater Protection Service, but let’s be clear – underlines the vice president of the National Consumers Union – that for the non-vulnerable who are now in the free market, the great advantage of returning to the protection market by midnight on Sunday 30 June remains unchanged. In fact, it is not the STG that increases in price but it is the protection that becomes more convenient. In short, the gap between STG and free remains identical and very profitable, especially if we consider that the free market currently has no more advantageous offers than either protection or the future STG”.
According to the study by the National Consumers Unionfor the typical new customer who consumes 2 thousand kWh per year and has a committed power of 3 kW, +12% means spending 52 euros (52.20 euros) more on an annual basis. The total expenditure in the next twelve months (not, therefore, according to the sliding year, but from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025, assuming constant prices), thus rises to 486 euros, which added to the 1140 euros of the typical user who consumes 1100 cubic meters of gas, determine a total expenditure of 1626 euros. If the price of electricity rises by 12% today and, in comparison with pre-crisis times, i.e. July 2020, based on the new historical series reconstructed according to the new typical customer who consumes 2 thousand kWh per year, it is still 35.9% higher today, the good news is that compared to the peak of July 2022 it is now 43.1% lower. However, a comparison cannot be made with the old annual expenditure, as the expenditure for the current year is no longer valid for the past.