Electricity and gas bills have been rising relentlessly for years. Wondering how and why the total continues to rise inevitably leads you to carefully the details that make up the invoice.
Rising raw material costs are only a partial explanation. Where geopolitical tensions from the East, both European and Asian, do not arrive, management costs and financing of the energy transition arrive.
Up to 1.7 billion more from bills
The mechanism is written in the folds of the 2027 Budget. The objective is to support large chemical and steel companies, which are very energy intensive, and to lend a helping hand to small and medium-sized enterprises. Between 2027 and 2028 the aid will still be covered with money from the public budget, but from 2029 everything will change: the component of general system charges (the Asos item) will take care of buffering the difficulties of businesses, i.e. that fixed portion of the electricity bill which by law is used to support renewable sources.
The schedule of increases
To understand the extent of the transfer of resources that will pass from public coffers to home meters, here is the detailed overview of the spending ceilings and the progressive transfer of aid on electricity and gas tariffs:
| Year | Facilitated sector | Spending ceiling | Source of coverage (Who pays?) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2027 | Non-energy-intensive SMEs (Electricity) | 1 billion euros | General taxation |
| 2028 | Energy-intensive companies and SMEs | 2.43 billion euros in total | General taxation |
| 2029 | Energy-intensive companies and SMEs (Electricity) | 1.4 billion euros in total | General system charges (electricity bill) |
| 2029 | Biomethane incentives (Gas) | 300 million euros | General natural gas rates (gas bill) |
| 2030 | Energy consumption and SMEs (Electricity) | 1.2 billion euros in total | General system charges (electricity bill) |
| 2030 | Biomethane incentives (Gas) | 300 million euros | General natural gas rates (gas bill) |
The paradox of the energy transition
What makes the picture even more bitter for consumers is the structural imbalance of the Italian energy transition: the electricity bill, even when the energy comes from clean sources, weighs more than that of gas.
Although the need to electrify consumption to pollute less has been preached for years, punitive tariff components continue to attack electricity. It is precisely on the electricity bills that the maxi-system charges intended for renewables and incentives for companies are loaded.
The ball passes to Arera
How will all this translate into euros and cents for individual families? The ball now passes to Arera. In fact, it will be up to the regulator to establish the ways in which these billions of charges are spread within the tariffs, recalculating the expenditure components and deciding how to divide them among the various consumers, taking into account the state of energy poverty faced by many Italian families.
The fact remains that the path taken appears already marked. For the next two years, general taxation will continue to support the competitiveness of businesses. Deciding what will really happen starting from 2029 will be the burden and responsibility of the next Government.
