With bill prices still exposed to international tensions, families and businesses are looking for greater certainty on costs in view of turning on the heating. To understand how to navigate the offers and what scenarios await consumers in the coming months, we took stock with one of the market operators, the CEO of Estra Nicola Ciolini.
Autumn has arrived and, with the imminent turning on of the heating, families are once again having to deal with electricity and gas. The market remains at the mercy of international tensions, just think that Arera (the Regulatory Authority for Energy, Networks and the Environment) has estimated, for the fourth quarter, a jump of 37.3% in the electricity bill for vulnerable customers with greater protection. Faced with the Government's appeal to cushion the impact on consumers, energy operators have begun to move with discounts and blocked tariffs of various durations, from Eni to Enel, up to territorial multi-utilities. To understand the dynamics taking place and how to navigate the offers, we took stock with one of the market operators, the CEO of Estra Nicola Ciolini.
Prices and volatility
Regarding the prospects for the coming months, the CEO urges caution. “If the current geopolitical framework were to remain unchanged, unfortunately it is difficult to imagine a significant reduction in prices.” The reason is structural and linked to our dependence on imports: "In our country, gas continues to have a decisive role in the entire energy market and international tensions have a strong impact on its price. For this reason, at this stage, making long-term forecasts remains difficult".
Consumer choices
Precisely because of this climate of perpetual instability, we are starting to see a change in consumers' approach. “We are seeing a growing attention towards the certainty of expenditure and, therefore, towards fixed price solutions”, confirms Ciolini, adding that “when uncertainty increases, families and businesses tend to give more value to the possibility of knowing an important component of their costs in advance”. It is in this direction that the market's countermoves come into play. Estra itself recently launched "Scudo 24", a proposal that freezes the price of the energy component for two years (set at 0.135 euros/kWh for electricity and 0.58 euros/Smc for gas, with a fixed quota of 112 euros per year). “Customers can choose, according to the established methods, to divide the payment into several installments or to manage the deadline according to their needs,” says the CEO of Estra, underlining that the customer will be informed in time and clearly about the proposed rates. However, there is no one-size-fits-all formula. The level of acceptance of the new tariffs is "very high", says Ciolini, but the final choice depends on individual needs: "A variable tariff can be convenient if the markets go down, while a fixed price offers greater protection if they go up again. The point is the level of risk that each customer is willing to take".
Beyond the raw material
The blocked price only affects a portion of the final bill. "Part concerns energy and the economic conditions of the offer chosen by the customer, such as the fixed component. And companies can intervene on this", clarifies the CEO. The rest of the final bill "includes transport and network management costs, system charges and taxes, components defined by regulation or legislation. The price of the bill, therefore, also reflects rules and costs of the energy system that do not depend on the individual operator".
The doubts of consumer associations
If on the one hand companies propose commercial solutions, on the other consumer protection associations look at market moves with scepticism. The widespread fear is that the discounts and initiatives decided unilaterally by individual operators are not enough to avoid high energy costs. More than on promotions, they ask for legislative and structural intervention by the Government to control prices, underlining how the current electricity tariffs for vulnerable groups have reached critical levels.
The energy saving weapon
Net of tariffs and state interventions, the real long-term defense remains the reduction of waste. “Energy efficiency is one of the most important levers for structurally reducing spending, because it means intervening on consumption and therefore on the quantity of energy needed for homes and businesses,” concludes Ciolini. “In a phase where prices are still exposed to strong volatility, consuming better also means reducing one's exposure to market fluctuations over time”.
