Energy: the protected electricity market has its days numbered and from Monday the official arrival of the free market is about to put the seal on a sort of small “bloodbath” for families: with certified increases in statistics and counts carried out that are close to 50% compared to the past.
«From Monday, for non-vulnerable customers – explains Giorgio Casadei, accredited mediator and head of Adoc in Cesena – the regime of greater protection will be replaced by the “Service with Gradual Protections” which, thanks to the auctions conducted by Acquirente Unico, will allow average savings on bills of approximately 131 euros per year per family.
Consumers who have already switched to the free market can, by June 30, return to the protected market for this economic advantage, but few know it: the numbers provided by Arera, in fact, certify that in May 2024 only 13,823 users abandoned the free market to return to the protected market (7,752 in April, 5,239 in March). It can be said that Arera’s information campaign on the end of the protected energy market has failed”.
The paradox, however, is that all this is happening while the free market is proving to be less convenient than the protected market. «According to Arera data, in March 2024 the average of the offers on the free market actually chosen by consumers had a rate of 0.33 euros per kWh for fixed-price contracts and 0.32 euros/kWh for variable-price contracts, compared to 0.22 euros/kWh of the protected market.
Translated into a nutshell, the average electricity bill for a family on the free market with consumption equal to 2,700 kWh per year stands at 891 euros per year in the case of a fixed price and 864 euros for the variable price, compared to an average of 594 euros per year on the protected market. The tariffs on the free market are thus on average 47.7% more expensive than those in force on the greater protection, with a greater expense which for fixed price contracts averages close to +297 euros”.
Numbers which for Adoc certify the failure of the information campaign conducted by Single Buyer on the end of the protected energy market and the victory of “wild teleselling” over convenience and competition.
«Consumers know neither that the protected market is less expensive than the free one, nor that from Monday they will be able to enjoy further savings on their bills thanks to the gradual protections: this is because the information campaign was completely inadequate, especially given the phenomenon of teleselling wildness that has become more pronounced in recent months. The same energy operators who will manage the Gradual Protection Service and who are also present on the free market have been careful not to inform their customers about the advantages of the new regime, aware that the profits guaranteed on the free market are significantly higher of those who will come from the new regime which will take effect in July. Without an extension for the end of the protected market, we need a rule that allows those in the free market to directly enter the service with gradual protection, at least until 31 December.
