The government has extended the protected gas market, but in January 2024 it will be necessary to choose a supplier in the free market for gas and electricity
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The measures contained in the Aid-quater decree launched by the government also include the extension of the protected gas market. The service of Greater protection, which was supposed to end on January 1, 2023, will instead last until January 10, 2024, the same date set for the end of the protected electricity market. The government has therefore accepted the doubts of consumer associations, also collected by the authority of the energy sector Arera. The story of the extensions of the protected market, which should have ended already in 2017, is enriched with a new chapter.
Extension of the protected market for gas: the comment by Assoutenti
“Excellent news – is the comment of Assoutenti – the postponement to 2024 would prevent a new blow on the pockets of families. For months we have been asking to postpone the end of the protected gas market, in consideration of the current serious situation which requires us to guarantee the interests of users, even in the face of significantly higher tariffs on the free market ”.
In 2022, the price of gas on the main European trading platform, the Ttf of Amsterdam, peaked at 349 euros per megawatt hour due to the war in Ukraine and Russian supply disruptions. These days it travels around 100 euros, a much more affordable price but still higher than around 70 euros at the end of 2021.
The alarm raised for the end of the protected gas market
In recent days, Assoutenti had joined the alarm raised by companies and traders for the risks caused by the end of the protected market in such a complex phase for the gas market. According to Assoutenti’s analysis, the tariffs charged on the free energy and gas market are significantly higher than those on the protected market.
Based on the data collected on the Arera site, second Assoutenti the average price increases would have been € 5,077 per family for fixed price gas rates and 2,429 euros for electricity. Price increases of 166% in the first case and 124% in the second compared to the prices of the protected market, which would have been less incisive (+ 23.8% and + 18.1%) for variable price contracts.
For these reasons Furio Truzzi, president of Assoutenti, had asked the government for immediate intervention, asking for the extension of the protected gas market until January 2024, a request effectively accepted by the executive.
What is the protected market
The enhanced protection service (or protected market) includes all customers who have not chosen an electricity and gas offer from the free market. For these users, who have never changed electricity companies, the enhanced protection service has been activated. Unlike the free market, in which companies set prices and make competitive contractual proposals, in the protected market the economic and contractual conditions are established by Arera based on the trend in the value of the raw material.
The Arera (Regulatory Authority for Energy, Networks and the Environment) is an independent body, established in 1995, with the task of protecting the interests of consumers and promoting competition. The revision of the prices of raw materials, until recently, took place quarterly but now it happens monthly. This made it possible, in November, to avoid increases of 70% in the bill, limiting the increases to 5%.
The end of the protected market
For small businesses and micro-enterprises with a committed power exceeding 15 kW, the price protection for electricity is already over on January 1, 2021. Before the extension decided by the government, even families should have definitively said goodbye to the protected market for gas on January 1, 2023. With the extension, however, the change to January 2024 will concern, according to the latest Arera report, 7.6 million domestic meters.
Photo source: ANSA
Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti
What happens after the protected market ends
Given that each customer can choose at any time to switch to free market, which in the end will be the mandatory landing place for everyone, the law has provided for the timing of passage for those who have not yet made the choice. This is the gradual protection service, which essentially provides that customers who have not independently switched to the free market are included in the portfolio of a supplier chosen through public tenders.
The gradual protection service was designed to avoid the interruption of the gas (or electricity) supply. In other words: those who have not switched to the free market since 1 January will find themselves in the market with gradual protections. The prices of the gas raw material, in the period of gradual protection, are defined PLACET (Free Price With Equal Protection Conditions).
How to understand if our contract is part of the protected market
The first step is to check whether our supply falls within the protected market, which we remember for gas will end on January 10, 2024. If you have never changed supplier or type of contract, it is likely that the user still falls under greater protection. .
Verification can be done quickly by looking at a bill. Under the supplier’s logo you can find the wording that indicates whether you are in greater protection or on the free market. Usually the bills of the protected market are in black and white, those of the free market instead show the colors of the supplier’s logo. If the type of contract is not clear from the bill, you can call customer service to ask for information directly from the supplier.
How to choose the supplier in the free market
Even in the presence of a postponement, in January 2024 (unless new) it will be necessary to choose a supplier on the free market. To accompany end customers in the path of overcoming price protection and improve understanding and participation in the free market, Arera has made available a series of tools:
· Helpdesk for the Energy and Environment consumer
offers information and contributes to the resolution of disputes relating to the electricity and gas service also with reference to the change of supplier
· Portal offers electricity and gas
provided for by the 2017 Competition Law, makes electricity and gas offers available to compare them with simplicity and immediacy
· PLACET offers
supply offers aimed at households and small businesses at freely determined prices but with contractual conditions defined by the Authority
· Consumption portal
to access consumption data and the main technical and contractual information relating to the supply of electricity and natural gas that you own
· Buying groups
Energy purchasing groups aimed at domestic final customers and small businesses that undertake to provide information and assistance to members according to the Authority’s guidelines
Photo source: ANSA
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