ARERA, the authority that deals with surveillance on the energy market in Italy, has highlighted that a government measure, inserted in the 2025 budget law, could do increase hidden costs in electricity bills from the next few years.
In the financial, the executive has concessions renewed To electricity distributors for 20 years, but also imposed on them an accessory cost to be paid to the state to maintain the privilege of managing the network without having to undergo competition.
Aretra warns that, in all likelihood, this “balzello” will be downloaded to consumers.
What are electricity distributors
The distributors, who will be renewed the concessions automatically starting from 2030 for the next 20 years, They are not the sellers – That is, companies whose name appears on bills.
These are companies that deal with get the energy from the manufacturer to the consumer through the use of the national electricity grid. For this use, they must pay a concession.
The 2006 Bersani law, which has liberalized many aspects of the Italian economy, has established that, since 2030, this concession had to be competing. In this way, the state would have obtained best offers and consumers More advantageous prices.
However, the Meloni government decided, with the 2025 budget law, to postpone this tender, granting for another 20 years after 2030 the use of the network to the same distributors.
80% of Italian electricity are distributed by Enel, the former state electricity company, which is also among the most important sellers.
Because the extension will increase the bills
The renewal of the concessions established by the government is not free. The state will in fact ask for a new burden to distributors. According to Arera, however, this additional cost will be downloaded to consumers.
The cost of an electric bill does not depend on how much energy is consumed. About 20% of the total is due to the so -called hidden costsmore precisely the system charges.
This expense is divided into:
- an energy share, which applies to all consumers in proportion to the consumed energy;
- A fixed fee, which is not linked to consumption but which applies only to homes not of residence.
The fear of the authority that regulates the energy market is that distributors increase the prices of their services for sellers and, consequently, they unload the cost of consumers through these items of spending.
The complaints of Arera and the associations
In a declaration issued to the newspaper The Republicthe president of the Arera Stefano Besseghini He explained:
This provision is in contrast with the general princes of tariffs based on the efficient costs of the service and, to protect the interests of users and consumers, it is appropriate to minimize, if not cancel, the impact of the reforming burden on bill.
In fact, Besseghini asked the state of Do not increase charges concessions for distributors. Sixteen consumer associations have supported this proposal, but nobody seems to push for concessions to be competed.
The reason is that, compared to 2006, the energy market in Italy has changed a lot. With the spread of renewables, the producers have become many.
Managing the network became more complicated and the gas supplies have at the same time proved to be much more subject to international changes than expected. Liberalization would risk sending the distribution to chaos.
At the moment the state is comfortable the Almost monopoly by Enel, which guarantees Italian energy management on the network and a profound knowledge of the market by the main distributor.
