In the next few days theEnergy Authority will communicate with retroactive effect the price of gas for the month of October for the 7 million consumers still in the regime of Greater protection. It is the first application of the new method of update of raw material costs announced in the summer, which provides, in addition to the ex post adjustment, also the transition to adjustments monthly instead of quarterly. The result should be positive for once: later the increases of the past few months in fact, an unpublished work is expected drop. About the descent of quotations on the European market Ttf It is on Italian virtual exchange point, to which the decisions of the Arera are now anchored. A trend linked to both temperature – which in most of the continent are well above the average for the period – both al slowdown in economic activityprelude to a probable recession. THE consumption they fell and prices, thanks to the stocks already full, followed them.
The prices on the Ttf di Amsterdamwhich in August had passed i 330 euros per megawatt hourlast week they dropped below 100 and are now around 125. Sul Market of the day before Italian, new reference for Arera calculations, the average has dropped from 150.2 euros per megawatt hour of the last week of September ai 36.3 of the last week of October. The average of the month is just over 50 euros. Less than a third compared to the values indicated by the authority at the beginning of October to operators to allow them to quantify the down payment for the consumption of the month: the gas component was in fact assigned a value of 1.96 euros per cubic meter And 183.4 per megawatt hour with a price increase of 70% compared to the previous quarter (when thanks to government aid the increases had been sterilized). In light of the real price trend, the final rates that will be announced shortly by Arera will be much lower. Sellers who have already invoiced the down payment will have to pay users an adjustment after the recalculation.
The news is also very positive for the new government, which in Budget law will have to decide whether and to what extent to refinance all anti-price increase measures launched from the end of 2021: from‘zeroing of the general system charges at the 5% VAT reduction on gas, to which the very expensive ones were then added tax credits for the purchase of energy by companies. Meanwhile, a new one is expected in November European summit which – out of time – should pull the strings on ceiling at the “dynamic” price, the common purchases and the limit on the revenues of producers of energy from renewable sources.
Cost reductions should also come for theelectricity: as is well known, the prices of electricity are formed on the basis of the marginal production price and are therefore closely linked to those of gas, despite the many proposals of “decoupling“Of the last few months. In this case, to see savings, however, we will have to wait until the end of the year and hope that the situation does not get worse again. In fact, the updates remain quarterly and the latest, announced on September 29 with a 59% increase of the reference price, applies until December.
All this is valid only for users in greater protection, a regime that under the current legislation will run out with regard to gas next January. Those who have joined aoffer on the free market – now most consumers – have often saved themselves from the price increases of recent months thanks to locked pricewhich however has a predefined duration. At the end of the blocking period, the trader can change it upwards. A theoretically robust protection had been provided by the Draghi government which last summer has unilateral modification of the supply conditions is prohibited until April 30, 2023. But several companies have tried to circumvent the ban: in recent days had to interveneAntitrust.
