(Finance) – Substantial stability for the bill gas of the typical family under protection for May consumption, marking a -0.2% compared to April. The slight decrease, even in the presence of a price medium wholesale in the last month in reduction, takes into account the gradual elimination of the component of discount UG2 (‘bill decree’ DL 34/2023), used in the last year for the benefit of consumers to offset increases at times of higher gas prices.
As regards the component of the gas price to cover the procurement costs (CMEMm), applied to customers still in protection, this is updated by ARERA as a monthly average of the price on the Italian wholesale market (PSV day ahead) and published within the first 2 working days of the month following the reference month. For the month of Maywhich recorded a lower average wholesale price than that of April, the price of the gas raw material alone (CMEMm), for customers with contracts under protected conditions, is equal to 34.06 €/MWh* .
The overall update for the typical user, for i consume of the month of May compared to the previous month, is therefore determined by a drop in expenditure on the subject gas natural, -13.2%, offset by the increase in general charges for the part linked to the UG2, +13%. The tariff linked to the cost of transport and measurement remained unchanged. This determines the final -0.2% for the family guy. In terms of effects finalsgas expenditure for the typical household in the rolling year (June 2022-May 2023) is approximately 1514 euros, gross of taxes, recording a -6.7% compared to the equivalent 12 months of the previous year (June 2021- May 2022).
Remember that the ‘Bill decree‘ n. 34 of 2023, for the second quarter of 2023 confirmed the reduction of VAT to 5% for gas and the zeroing of the remaining general system costs. In view of the constant reduction in wholesale gas prices, the negative rates of the UG2 tariff component, applied to consumption brackets up to 5,000 cubic meters per year, have instead been gradually reduced and with this update zeroed.
“Italian households and businesses will see the benefit of the drop in the price of gas on the market completely nullified, because a tariff component linked to system charges has been reintroduced”, said the Chairman of Absolute users, Furious Truzzi, commenting on the 0.2% drop in the gas bill in May ordered by Arera. “We regret this, because the comparison with gas prices in the same period of the previous year tells us in an incontrovertible way that the cost of gas is still too high in our country”, added Truzzi.
“Despite the sharp drop in international prices, gas bills will not be affected by any positive effect, and tariffs will remain essentially the same – explained the president Codacons, Carlo Rienzi – The return of gas taxation, which effectively nullifies the effects of the drop in market prices, weighs on the lack of decrease. After two years of high energy costs, the Government would have done better to extend the discounts on bills for the whole of 2023, to lighten energy spending in the face of still very high inflation in our country which, together with the cost of electricity and gas, affects on household incomes and impoverishes consumers”.
“This mixed performance confirms our concerns about the premature decommissioning of the safeguards for the benefit of consumers prepared on the occasion of the energy crisis. The latest government provisions on gas supplies have extended the sterilization of system charges until the end of June, while they reduced the contribution introduced in favor of consumers up to 5,000 cubic metres. In this scenario, the end of the sterilization regime, which is now nearing even for gas, creates considerable alarm, given the precarious conditions of families, still strongly affected by the generalized increase in prices”, reads a note from Federconsumatori.
“Bad. Bad news, especially if one considers that if the Government had not reintroduced the remaining 35% of the UG2 component of system charges, the drop in the bill would have been 13.2% and not 0.2%. A hidden tax equal to 166 euros on an annual basis which, added to the one taken in April, equal to 309 euros, brings the total tax to 475 euros. A wicked choice if we consider that, despite today’s reduction and the tax discounts still in force, such as the 5% VAT, the bills remain much higher than in normal times. Not to mention the harmful effects on inflation which, precisely because of the first recovery of charges, had resumed its run in April”, he said Marco Vignolahead of the energy sector of theNational Consumer Union.