In February the market prices of natural gas (28 euros per MWh) and electricity (87 euros) returned to the same levels as in June 2021, but the electricity and gas bills paid by Italian families compared to three years ago , increased on average by 328 euros (+26.2%), of which 153 (+24.2%) for electricity and 175 (+28.1%) for gas.
This was revealed by the research office of the CGIA of Mestre (Venice).
At a territorial level, the Northeast is the area of the country that has suffered the highest price increases.
Also between 2021 and 2023, the average annual increase in electricity and gas was 457 euros (+33.6%).
Followed by the North-West with +316 euros (+23.9%), the South with +304 euros (+26.6%) and, finally, the Center with +260 euros (+21.1%).
The escalation in electricity prices over the three-year period affected everyone, even if, as was predictable, for users of the protected market, at around a third of the total, the variation (+34%) was lower than in the free market (+136.3 %).
For gas, however, the data do not allow us to calculate the change in prices between the protected market and the free market;
However, the 2023 data allow a comparison with 2022 and even here, while the prices of the "protected" products decreased (-31%) for the free market there was still an increase (+6.7%).
The latest data available (first half of 2023) highlights that on average the Italian price of electricity was equal to 378.2 euros per MWh, the fourth highest in the Euro Area, behind Germany (412.5 euros), Belgium (435) and the Bass (475).
For gas, again in the first half of 2023, the Italian price was equal to 98.1 euros per MWh, among the lowest in the Eurozone.
These increases occurred despite the fact that raw material prices have substantially fallen since the end of 2022 and the Draghi and Meloni governments have provided almost 100 billion to counteract the high energy costs for families and businesses.
According to the CGIA, this is mainly due to the "significant" increase in the fixed amount in the bill, i.e. the deposits and guarantees payable by the user;
a measure decided by energy distributors and suppliers to deal with the lack of liquidity which has affected them, especially in 2022.
Inflation in the energy sector has also contributed to increasing bills, having contributed to a surge in consumer price indices for gas by 60.4% and electricity by 93.1%.
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