The authorities of this small southern territory announce the measure in the middle of the electoral campaign, which will save some 350 euros for 110,000 families
In the midst of an electoral campaign starring the emergency in energy prices, a problem for which the parties offer solutions for all tastes, in Italy the recent announcement by Vito Bardi, president of the region of Basilicata. As of October, in this small territory in the south of the country, you will not pay for the consumption of natural gas in the first homes. The neighbors, yes, will have to continue paying the cost of transport, maintenance of the network and other services present in the bill. It is estimated that around 110,000 families will benefit, who will be able to save an average of 350 euros per year. Companies are excluded from this measure (so as not to incur illicit aid from the State) and residents who use other sources of energy in their homes, who will nevertheless obtain a subsidy to install solar panels.
Bardi’s welcome announcement is the result of the agreement reached by the regional government with the oil companies that exploit the hydrocarbon deposits in Basilicata, known as the ‘Texas of Italy’ for its wealth of oil and natural gas. As compensation to the local population for environmental damage, Eni and Total have agreed to give away a total of 200 million cubic meters of natural gas per year, more than enough to cover the consumption of the residents of this region, the second with the rent lowest per capita in the country and with strong emigration to other richer areas.
Precisely the decree signed by Bardi hopes that by offering free natural gas the repopulation process will be “favored” in Basilicata, a territory governed by the same coalition of conservative parties that is the favorite for Sunday’s legislative elections.
“Logically, citizens have seen this measure very well, especially at a time when gas has reached a record price,” Michele Catalano, regional president of the Federconsumatori consumer association, explains to this newspaper. “We would have wanted the exemption to be linked to the level of family income, but they did not listen to us,” regrets Catalano, however, who shows little hope that this announcement can help young people not to leave this land in search of better job opportunities.
“I don’t think I’m going to achieve a change in trend. For that, we would need to have a strong industrial sector, but here the hydrocarbon deposits generate little work. They should have a bigger economic impact.” In his opinion, it would have been very useful if local companies had also benefited from free natural gas or, at least, from a substantial price reduction. “This would have facilitated the creation of a local industrial pole, while now all the refining work and auxiliary companies are carried out in neighboring Taranto.”
Matteo Salvini, leader of the League, has been delighted with the idea developed in Basilicata, which he would like to extend to the entire country, for which he even promised to talk about it with the outgoing Prime Minister, Mario Draghi. Very uneasy ahead of Sunday’s elections due to how Fratelli d’Italia (FdI, Brothers of Italy), the far-right party led by Giorgia Meloni, has eaten up his field, Salvini has been overly optimistic. It seems very difficult to find an oil company willing to offer the country’s gas needs for free, which amount to some 70,000 million cubic meters per year, around half of which are dedicated to generating electricity.
return to nuclear power
In addition to the impossible idea of extending the existing exemption in this small southern region to the entire national territory, Salvini is committed to resolving the current energy crisis by having Italy rebuild nuclear power plants, closed after the decision taken in a referendum held in 1987. “It would be necessary to build the first nuclear plant in my neighborhood of Milan,” he declared last June to show his calm in the face of the risks of atomic energy.
Less convinced is Meloni, favorite to become Italy’s next prime minister, who fears that if the country were to return to nuclear power it could bet on “obsolete technology”. The electoral program of the center-right bloc asks in any case to create “state-of-the-art plants without vetoes or preconceived concepts, valuing resorting to clean nuclear.”
Carlo Calenda, leader of the centrist bloc, also demands a return to this energy, while Enrico Letta, head of the list of the Democratic Party, the main formation of the center left, advocates the construction of regasification plants as a “bridge solution” until the energy needs of the country can be fully satisfied in 2050 with renewable sources. However, there is agreement between all the candidates in the request that a ceiling be established on the price of gas at a European level.
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