Electricity bill: price down 19.8% in the second quarter. Gradual protections come into effect from 1 July

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The electricity bill for families still in protection will drop by 19.8% in the second quarter of the year. The Authority for Energy, Networks and the Environment has updated the prices of electricity supply for non-vulnerable customers: this is, as is known, the latest communication since, starting from 1 July, for those will not have yet made a choice on the free market, the transfer to the new service with gradual protections with the supplier selected through auction in that area will automatically be triggered. This service will be active for just under three years, at the end of which, in the absence of an explicit choice, customers will continue to be supplied by the same seller on the free market.

The drop in gas and electricity prices

The reduction communicated by the Authority chaired by Stefano Besseghini is the result of the decline that affected the trend in gas and electricity prices towards the end of last year and in the first months of the current year and which, however, is now suffering a slowdown due to uncertainties linked to growing geopolitical tensions. The price expectations of the natural gas market for the second quarter of 2024, favored by a level of European stocks which – thanks to a relatively mild winter – is historically high at the end of the supply season, have translated into an estimate of the price of electricity (Pun) equal to approximately 83 euros per megawatt hour.

The family’s annual expenditure

In terms of final effects, the expenditure for the typical family – i.e. the one that has average electricity consumption of 2,700 kilowatt hours per year and a committed power of 3 kilowatts – in the rolling year (between 1 July 2023 and on 30 June 2024) will be around 662 euros, returning close to pre-crisis levels, marking -47.7% compared to the equivalent 12 months of the previous year (1 July 2022 – 30 June 2023), the period in which the price of matter energy reached its maximum peaks.

Besseghini: the Authority will continue to monitor

«It’s time for us as consumers to evaluate what to do, check our annual costs and consumption, understand whether we are on the free market or under protection, whether we are vulnerable or not and whether returning to protection is a convenient option in light of the transition automatic in July in the gradual protection service – explains the president of Arera, Stefano Besseghini –. Until now, the greater protection has allowed us to offer an efficient price, which has allowed us to have a benchmark for the market, however as the end of the protection service approaches, we always remember that it does not exhaust contractual protection, rules and supervision on their respect by the Authority and the protections for consumers at every stage of supply”.

Gas bills almost the same following the end of the protected period

What happens to vulnerable customers

As of 31 December 2023, almost 73% of domestic customers had chosen an offer on the free market, therefore, non-vulnerable domestic customers served under greater protection amounted to approximately 4.5 million. For vulnerable customers, however, Arera will continue to update the economic conditions of the enhanced protection on a quarterly basis, until the auctions envisaged by the latest energy decree are held.