BOLZANO. The rise in energy prices is not slowing down. AND in 2025 Italian companies will pay an extra 13.7 billion last year, with a increase of 19.2 percent. The umpteenth surge will result in overall spending that should reach 85.2 billion: of these, 65.3 would be for electricity and 19.9 for gas. Worrying estimates, provided byCGIA research officethe Association of artisans and small businesses, of Mestre.
Trentino Alto Adige in 11th place
The majority of production and commercial activities are located in the North and the increases will affect, in particular, the areas with the highest consumption: Lombardy with an increase of 3.2 billion euros, Emilia Romagna with +1.6 billion, Veneto with +1.5 and Piedmont with +1.2. Trentino Alto Adige is in eleventh place with an increase of 359 million, equal to 19.3 percent, divided as follows: 111 million for gas (+24.7%) and 248 for electricity (+19.3%).
The north pays more
According to CGIA, they should be the ones to pay the heaviest bill Northern companies. This geographical distribution, in fact, “hosts” a good part of the stock of companies present in our country and, consequently, will have to bear the largest share of the increase; practically almost two thirds of the overall burden. The estimates are based on a hypothesis of the average price of electricity in 2025 of 150 euros per MWh and of gas at 50 euros per MWh; thus maintaining a three to one ratio between the two tariffs, as occurred in the previous two years. As regards consumption, reference was made to the 2023 data and it was assumed that they will remain constant in the following two years. If we analyze this estimated additional cost of 13.7 billion euros for this year, we note that almost 9.8 billion (+17.6 percent compared to 2024) would concern electricity and 3.9 billion (+24, 7 percent) gas.
Price increases “mitigated” by the public
The significant increase in energy costs will however be much lower than what we experienced during the most critical period of the recent energy crisis that hit all of Europe between the end of 2021 and the first months of 2023. It is important to remember that today we no longer have those measures measures adopted at the time which helped contain the increases in bills for both families and businesses: we are talking about a total of 92.7 billion euros. Only Germany has allocated a greater amount of 157.7 billion, but it must be said that the Germans have the most important manufacturing sector in Europe and face longer and colder winters than ours.
Inflation is also scary
This year the effects of the increase in bills could be felt heavily on the budgets of both businesses and families. But there is another downside to consider. As has happened in past years, we could find ourselves faced with a surge in gas and energy prices which risk causing a inflationary spiral. Let us remember that in the two-year period 2022-2023, the energy crisis caused a significant loss of purchasing power for employees and pensioners; not to mention the increase in interest rates and therefore the higher cost of money which has put investments and GDP growth in difficulty. But there’s more. Experts compare inflation to an “unfair tax”: in fact, it reduces the quantity of goods and services that can be purchased by all of us and is particularly harsh on those who are already economically fragile.
A chain for Europe
«The cost of energy is one of the big problems to be solved and affects the competitiveness of Italian and also European companies – he comments Josef Negridirector of Confindustria –. It is essential to find a European solution that guarantees sustainable energy costs. In Germany, where energy is even more expensive than here, the parties participating in the next political elections have included the problem of energy costs in their electoral programmes. We need to work to be sure of having energy and having it at sustainable costs. The road – conclude – it is above all that of the transition towards eco-sustainable energy”