The transition to a free energy market, where contract conditions are determined by operators regardless of Arera (the regulatory authority for energy, networks and the environment), will not start on January 10, 2024. In fact, the Meloni government is ready to launch a new energy package, which will also include the expansion of the protected electricity and gas market (where tariffs are set by Arera) for domestic customers. I’ve been waiting for this place for the past few days. Families and small businesses will be able to rely on the prices set by the interim authority for electricity and gas for a while longer. So what changes in electricity and natural gas bills? Let’s go in order.
The new energy decree is being examined in the Preliminary Council of Ministers at 09.30 today and comes to the Council of Ministers, which meets at 15.30 in the afternoon. The provision in question was prepared by the Ministry of Environment and Energy Security and includes “urgent provisions regarding the country’s energy security, promotion of the use of renewable resources, support of companies with high energy consumption and the functioning of the energy sector.” retail electricity market”. The most anticipated measure demanded by consumer associations in recent months is precisely the measure on the extension of the protection regime. The transition affects about a third of the total Italian users, that is, about 15 million users who pay their bills according to the tariffs of the protected regime.
The transition to a free energy market will not start at the beginning of 2024. The transition of customers in the protection regime to selected operators will take at least six months to a maximum of one year. The government decree envisages the activation of adequate information campaigns and the introduction of a new service for the supply of electricity to customers identified as “vulnerable” (recipients of social bonuses for bills, people over 75 years old, residents) at controlled prices. smaller islands or emergency homes after disasters). Tenderings currently in place must apply to the appointment of customers who do not choose a free market supplier, but the winning company will not take over before July 2024 or January 2025.
The option of extending the effective period of the suspension on the protected market had already been envisaged by Vannia Gava, deputy minister for environment and energy security. The decision on the protected market also faces pressure from Parliament: in fact, the request is included in a series of amendments submitted by various majority and opposition groups to the extension ordinance under consideration in the Senate Finance Committee.
Measures regarding renewable resources
According to previews and drafts of the decree announced in recent hours, aid is also coming to energy-intensive companies to build electricity systems with a power equal to at least one megawatt hour from renewable energy. The decree proposes an “electricity release”: companies will be able to receive the costs of these systems in advance from the GSE (energy services administrator), supply from renewable sources at an average price for three years, and then do so. It returns in the form of energy within twenty years.
There is also a push for offshore wind energy: The energy decree provides funds to support infrastructure investments to be carried out “in two state-owned sea zones located in the south, with the corresponding water body allocated on the front side” for the production of floating platforms and offshore wind energy production facilities up to shipbuilding”. Therefore, 20 million euros were allocated in 2024, 110 million euros in 2025, and 170 million euros in 2026. Another 60 million euros for 2024 and 60 million euros for 2025 were allocated to the Ministry of Environment (Mase). “Supporting the development and industrialization of the construction process of a floating foundation prototype aimed at a pilot demonstration of energy production for self-consumption and the construction of an operational offshore wind farm in one of the two state-owned precedents in the fields”.
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Source: Today IT
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
