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For several years now theARERA is busy trying to make bills clearer and more understandable and communications made to end users. The Authority has recently launched a new reform project which aims to standardize the first page of bills of all market operators. In this way, it will be clearer for users to know the details of costs and make comparisons between operators. The idea of ARERA was discussed during a public consultation and in the coming weeks the Authority will also engage with consumer associations and electricity and gas operators. If the reform goes through, the news will be introduced within 18 months.
In the meantime, for compare the electricity and gas offers of the Free Marketin order to reduce the bill, you can use the comparator SOStariffe.it. The results of the comparison clearly show the costs per kWh and Smc and facilitate the identification of the most convenient offers from SOStariffe.it partner companies.
How the bill would change in ARERA’s forecasts
The ARERA reform plan aims to modify the first page of bills, transforming it into a unified cover page the same for all users. This would be a sort of “receipt” that will help you read and understand the bill.
The structure of the first page will therefore be the same for both i vulnerable customers which will continue to be served by the market for greater electricity protection both for those who are customers of the vulnerability protection service in the gas market, but also for those who have a user in the Gradual Protection Service and for those who have moved on to free market.
The elements that will be contained in the unified frontispiece of the bill will concern:
- User and customer information;
- Information regarding the service and the reference market;
- Details of costs and payment methods.
The first part of the bill will show the information regarding users and customers. In this area of the document the operator will have to enter the data relating to the person holding the bill, the supply address, the power used and the meter’s identification data, for example.
In the next section the data regarding the type of service and market. By reading this part of the bill it must be clear whether it is an electricity or gas user, for example, and whether the user is in the Free Market or if it adheres to one of the forms of protected market provided for by law.
Finally, in the part relating to costs, operators must clearly indicate the cost per kWh of electricity and cost per Smc of gasas well as specifying in detail what the share of the fixed coststhe possible power quota and the share of variable costs.
There will then be an area that will contain any communications from ARERA and operators. Promotions and initiatives from the electricity and gas supplier can be reported in this area of the bill.
ARERA’s objective is to have clear and understandable bills
By standardizing not only the type of information that must be provided by operators, but also the way in which it must be presented to users, ARERA wants to make the bills that are immediately understandable and clear for everyone.
The simplification will concern both the electricity and gas bills, and will allow immediate knowledge of thenet amount to be paidconsidering any recalculations, bonuses and Rai license fees.
According to the declarations of the president of ARERA, Stefano Besseghini, the Authority should formalize the reform in the summer, with the approval of a specific resolution. If the reform project is approved, the unified frontispiece will become reality during the second part of 2025.
Compare offers from electricity and gas operators and knowing in detail what the amount to pay is for each kWh of electricity and for each cubic meter of gas is very important for monitoring costs and reducing expenses. While tracking down this information on your bill currently takes time and attention, things will soon be easier.
While waiting for the simplified bill to become reality, you can use the SOStariffe.it comparator. This free tool helps you compare offers from multiple electricity and gas operators on the free market. For each offer, the fixed and variable quota are clearly shown and, by indicating your annual consumption, you can get an idea of the costs. By comparing this estimate with your own spending, you can identify offers from SOStariffe.it partners that allow you to save on bills.
