Dear Bills: Here is the government’s plan to reduce the increases in electricity and gas

The final amount of resources that the government is preparing to deploy to reduce it by at least 30%, as predicted by this newspaper (see Il Sole 24 Ore of September 17), increases in electricity and gas prices, it will be known, more likely, only on the eve of the Council of Ministers. The meeting, with the exception of last-minute changes, should be called next Thursday to give the green light for the measure that will try to reduce the impact of the 9 billion in incoming increases by a third – forecasts speak of 40% for electricity and 31% for electricity. Gas – on the bills of users in greater protection (families and micro-enterprises).

Technicians at work to fix the covers

In these hours, technicians work out the DL caps: a portion (we’re talking about 750 million) should come from the CO2 auctions that already in July helped partially sanitize the increases.

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The largest slice will be recovered by Mef using the resources provided by the reduced drafts of anti-crisis measures prepared by the Executive to deal with the pandemic (read bonus). And the size of this tranche will determine the final value of the decree: the range we’re currently moving within is 3-3.5 billion.

So far the perimeter of the “buffer” measure that the CDM should agree to on Thursday and that would replicate the mechanism already put on track in July: namely the “one-time” reduction in system fees (particularly the Asos component that mainly covers support costs Renewable energy sources). Fees, in the latest quarterly update, accounted for 10.7% of total spending on electricity supply (and 4.7% on gas). On the other hand, taxes, understood as value-added tax and production charges, amounted to 12.6% in the electricity bill (2.9 euro cents against the 22.9 cents we pay for every kilowatt-hour consumed), while having a much greater impact on expenditures. For gas where the additional regional fee is also calculated: 35.6% of the entire bill (30.2 cents versus 84.7 cents per cubic meter of gas used).

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Which tool to use

In short, it is the assertion that the picture is different between the two paths and that in any case a real breath of fresh air can come – as the authorities (Arera and Antitrust) requested some time ago and as Minister of Transition also reiterated in recent days the participation of environmentalist Roberto Cingolani, personally in the file – Only through a profound reinterpretation of the provisions in the bill. At the moment, the only certainty is that the final destination should be the Economic and Financial Document (Def) even if it is still deciding whether to include structural review in one of the amendments to the budget law, among the reforms to be implemented. , or as part of the maneuver to allow entry into force as early as January 1st. The knot will be resolved in the next few weeks, but it is clear to everyone that it is complicated and it is impossible to get to the solution of the puzzle in a very short time.