From April 1, 2023 prices have decreased by 55.3%

The price of energy is collapsing. Good news for protected market users who will have less heavy bills in the next quarter. With the sharp decline in wholesale prices of energy products, ARERA announced the reduction of the reference price of electricity for standard protected households in the second quarter of 2023 by 55.3%.

From April 1, 2023, the reference price for electricity for the average customer will be 23.75 euro cents per kilowatt-hour, including taxes. Spending on a typical household between 1 July 2022 and 30 June 2023 will be approximately €1,267, +33.7% compared to the previous 12 months.

However, the authority states that “general system fees have been reactivated for all electricity customers, including domestic users” from April 1. With regard to gas, the “implementation of the provisions of the government in the decree that was approved on March 28” will also cancel the fees for the next three months. In addition, we read, “The enhancement of social bonuses for electricity and gas for households of Isee level up to €15,000 (at Isee level for large families, with at least 4 dependent children, rising to €30,000) is confirmed.”. But we have already talked about the law decree passed by the executive branch here.

Because the bills are going down

Returning to the trend of energy markets, Arrera explains that in the current quarter there was a “decisive decline” in wholesale gas prices, due to various factors: a decline in European demand (-13% in 2022 compared to 2021), a limited recovery in Asian demand for natural gas Liquefied, recover operations or new liquefaction plants in the US and regasification in Europe. Energy products followed, as was widely (and physiologically) expected, on the heels of the downward trend in gas prices.

Milder temperatures in the winter of 2022-2023, added by the authority, have encouraged limited use of European storage (still filled to about 57% of capacity in mid-March) and futures prices point to less tense conditions for the balance of demand and gas supplies in the second quarter of 2023. In this context, electricity futures prices also declined after the sharp declines that were already recorded. Already in the first quarter of 2023, based on preliminary data, the unified national price of electricity (Pun) actually decreased by almost 36% compared to the fourth quarter of 2022.

“We are in a new phase and we are still in a delicate phase of this very long crisis,” commented Stefano Pesegini, President of Arrera. “Wholesale gas prices highlight a market that has taken very seriously European efforts to diversify and strengthen infrastructures. And we see the signals – he added – also being quickly transmitted to end consumers, also thanks to a regulatory system that works. However, we must not lose focus on the commitments that have been made. out and implement the choices made.”