Bills, record price increases are on the way: electricity increases by 55% and gas by 41.8%
Household electricity bills will increase by 55 percent, while that of gas will grow by 41.8 percent, in the first quarter of 2022. These are the monstrous increases decided by the Authority for Electricity, Gas and the Water System (Arera) in the ‘quarterly update which adjusted costs to the trend in the prices of raw materials, especially gas, hit by record increases in recent months.
The increases were partly contained by the interventions announced by the government in recent months. According to the ARERA, without the measures envisaged in the latest budget law, the increases in the prices of wholesale energy products and permits for CO2 emissions would have led to a 65 percent increase in the electricity bill and 59 percent , 2 percent of that of gas for a typical family.
The Authority confirmed that the general system charges will be temporarily eliminated from the bill, with the strengthening of the social bonus for families in difficulty. The measures are foreseen by the budget law for 2022 to which the Chamber gave final approval today, in which the government has allocated a total of about 4 billion euros to lighten the impact of the increases on 29 million families and 6 million small businesses, with the possibility in some cases of paying bills in installments.
For 2.5 million households entitled, on the basis of the Isee, to social bonuses for electricity and for 1.4 million benefiting from the gas bonus, the increases for the next quarter were substantially offset, through resources provided for by the maneuver. The Authority has enhanced the bonuses that, for the first quarter of 2022 alone, will support families in difficulty: 200 euros for electricity (for families with 3-4 members) and 400 euros for gas (families up to 4 members) , with gas heating in climatic zone D).
The Authority also defined, for domestic customers who find themselves in arrears, the methods for paying in installments for electricity and gas bills issued from January to April 2022, for a maximum period of 10 months and without interest.
According to Arera, the record increases in electricity and gas bills will cost families € 2,383 per year. The Authority has foreseen for a typical family an expenditure of approximately 823 euros for the electricity bill in the entire period between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022, with an increase of 68 percent compared to the previous 12 months, equal to to 334 euros per year. In the same period, the typical household’s expenditure for the gas bill is estimated at around 1560 euros, a variation of 64 percent compared to the previous 12 months, around 610 euros more per year.
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