A rain of billions more that the Italians have had to shell out in recent months with the prices that have caught fire from the war in Iran. And autumn does not bode well. The ones doing the math today are the consumers of Codacons, the Cna and the Cgia. The war in the Middle East is causing very strong increases in prices and tariffs in all sectors, but the increases do not affect all citizens in the same way and their impact changes greatly depending on the work done and the composition of the family unit, says Codacons, which has carried out a study that analyzes the trend of retail prices in 2026 and the repercussions for the pockets of the various types of consumers.
On the basis of the inflation acquired by Istat for the whole of 2026 and considering the total annual consumption expenditure of the various types of families, the impact of the price increases triggered since the beginning of the conflict will lead a pensioner who lives alone to spend a total of 667 euros more than last year with the same consumption (and in the hypothesis in which prices remain at current levels) - explains Codacons - For a single person under 35 years of age the increase of expenditure will be 704 euros, while a couple without children will have to take into account 1,167 euros more at the end of the year. For a single-parent family, the annual expense will be higher by 976 euros, which rises to +1,281 euros for a couple with one child and reaches 1,415 euros if there are two dependent children.
But the increases in prices and tariffs also have a different weight depending on the main source of income of a family - reveals Codacons - Based on the classification of the professional condition of the head of the family as defined by Istat, an unemployed person would find himself spending +701 euros at the end of 2026, which becomes +936 euros if the main salary in the house is that of a worker, +1,259 euros for a manager or a manager, +1,616 euros for an entrepreneur or freelancer. Since the beginning of the conflict in Iran - Cna calculates as of September 30 - the high cost of energy has imposed a greater outlay on Italian families and businesses estimated at around 16.5 billion euros compared to the average prices in February. The increased cost of petrol and diesel is estimated at between 7.4 and 7.6 billion euros. This is followed by electricity, with 5.8-6 billion, and gas directly consumed by families and businesses, with 3-3.3 billion. The month of September alone produced an additional bill of between 4.6 and 5.2 billion euros, approximately a third of the entire burden accumulated since the beginning of March. In the first fifteen days the increase was estimated between 2.2 and 2.5 billion; in the second half of the month another 2.4-2.7 billion were added.
Fuel was the main driver of the bill. In September, petrol reached the highest values since March 2022. Diesel oil instead surpassed the previous peak of the 2022 energy crisis, establishing a new nominal historical high in the weekly series available since 1996. Finally, if that wasn't enough, the CGIA predicts that despite the decision by Eni and other oil companies to set a ceiling on petrol and diesel prices for October, Italian families and businesses will still spend 1.1 billion euros more than in the same month last year. For the organization, the large metropolitan areas of the country will suffer the most, with Rome in the lead (+68.5 million euros), followed by Milan (+49.5), Naples (+39.6), Brescia (+31.2), Turin (+27.8) and Bari (+25.6).
