This afternoon the Arera Authority will update the electricity bills valid for the third quarter and, for the first time, the tariff update will only concern the category of the so-called “vulnerable” (over 75s, disabled people, inhabitants of the smaller islands, those who economically disadvantaged or lives in emergency housing or uses life-saving medical equipment powered by electricity) who it has over 4 million users, but not other domestic customers with a protected supply. This Sunday, June 30th, the Greater Protection Service ends forever, that regime in which prices and contractual conditions are defined by the Authority. This is a historic transition that concerns approximately 4.5 million Italian families (companies have already made the transition) and which will put an end to the existing double channel, the protected market and the free one, to arrive at an electricity market completely liberalized (gas protection has already ended in January 2024).
The «Corriere» guide book
To accompany the transition, legislators and regulators have studied and prepared a temporary regime, called the “Gradual Protection Service”, which will automatically come into effect from Monday 1st July for those who, by Sunday, have not chosen a contract on the free market. How does this new regime of gradual protections work? What advantages does it offer? And how long will it last? To answer questions and doubts, tomorrow the readers of Courier they will find the free attachment «Electricity & Gas, what changes. The new bills between competition and gradual protections: a guide to choosing”, a question/answer handbook for orienting oneself in the new world of energy which will explain how much those who switch to the new regime with gradual protections will pay, who will be their operator and how to exploit to the best of the existing offers (there are over 650 electricity suppliers) for those who opt or are already on the free market.
Times to get the discount
What is already known is that those who enter the gradual protection service will receive a discount and will not pay the marketing costs. According to estimates from the National Consumers Union, the fixed annual discount for customers who will switch to the Gradual Protection Service on July 1st will be equal, compared to the protection, to approximately 112 euros per year. “There are only three days left to return from the free market to the protected one – explains Marco Vignola, vice-president of the UNC – and thus be able to take advantage of the discount that will be obtained by switching to the Gradual Protection Service”. But what happens to the vulnerable? For them, protection remains, which will have a quarterly update as it did before announced by Arera ex ante, i.e. a few days before the quarter begins and which may undergo small subsequent adjustments. And even the vulnerable will have a reduction in the annual marketing expense, which according to what Corriere reports should fall from the 58.4 euros that those in the protected electricity market pay to around 39 euros. The exact amount will be announced by the Authority chaired by Stefano Besseghini again this afternoon.
