Energy, all the warnings of Besseghini (Arera) to the next government
The energy crisis is serious and according to the president of Arera, Stefano Besseghini, “there is no time to waste”. Here are the challenges of the next government, the desired measures, the bill case and the problems of Acciaierie d'Italia
After winning the elections on Sunday 25 September, Giorgia Meloni will probably get the task of forming a new government: her party, Fratelli d'Italia, took 26 percent of the votes, out of the total of 44 percent obtained by the coalition. right.
At the top of the list of priorities of the possible Meloni government there is certainly the energy crisis : the increase in electricity and gas prices risks compromising the competitiveness and very survival of manufacturing and energy distribution companies, and even households – despite public support – may have difficulty in sustaining the rise in bills during the cold season.
THE INCREASES OF BILLS
This Thursday, the Arera (Regulatory Authority for Energy, Networks and the Environment) will announce the new increases in electricity bills for the fourth quarter of 2022. A 100 percent increase is expected compared to the tariff of the previous period, mainly due to the increase in the price of the raw material used to produce electricity: namely natural gas, which covers a large part of Italy's needs and which in August reached a record value of 346 euros per megawatt hour on the European TTF market (today it is about 173 € / MWh).
“THERE IS NO TIME TO WASTE”, ACCORDING TO ARERA
Interviewed by the Sole 24 Ore , the president of the Arera Stefano Besseghini said that "it would be worthwhile to work on some mechanism to allow liquidity injections, if we want to avoid a useless death of operators who are otherwise healthy".
"There is no time to waste," he added.
FORECASTS
Already in the report at the end of July, Arera had spoken of "difficulties […] in finding the volumes necessary to meet the demand" for gas on the wholesale markets and anticipated the possibility of an "increase of over 100 per cent compared to the current quarter ”of energy bills starting from October.
THE SITUATION OF STOCKS
According to Besseghini, "it would be an important signal to the market to clarify as of now what the methods and delivery profile" of the stocks will be, especially those "accumulated in significant quantities with the mechanism of last resort": that is to say the purchases made by Snam (the company that manages the Italian gas pipeline network) and the GSE (Energy Services Manager) using public money.
According to the Arera president, "it was already evident from 12-13 September that capacity reservations in October will be lower than in the past": that is, a lack of 1.2-1.3 billion cubic meters of gas, due to the contractual problems between energy suppliers and large companies that import gas (such as Eni and Enel).
THE QUESTION STEEL MILLS OF ITALY (EX-ILVA)
Al Sole 24 Ore Besseghini said that "a huge consumer has not yet closed contracts" for the supply of gas. It is probably – according to the newspaper – Acciaierie d'Italia (ex-Ilva), plagued by liquidity problems . At 30 June last, however, it appeared that the company still had to pay 285 million euros for gas: "a default that in the meantime could be increased", writes the newspaper, "forcing the San Donato company not to renew the contract. (at least pending state guarantees) ".
WHAT TO DO, ACCORDING TO BESSEGHINI
Besseghini thinks that "more flexibility should be given to the system in this extraordinary situation" by reopening capacity reservations, which could lead to the closure of some other supply contracts.
Arera is working on new protection mechanisms such as the default transport service, authorizing Snam to procure the necessary gas in advance. In the next few days, the company will therefore proceed to make two transportation capacity assignments on the network to facilitate the signing of new contracts by large gas consumers.
THE CHANGE OF GOVERNMENT
With a view to immediate action, Besseghini thinks that the current government could also take decisions, for example on the use of storage. "The next government will make the choices it deems right of course", he says, "but first it will have to do a very quick learning course on what has been done so far, because there is no time to waste and in any way you want to intervene you have to do it. with full knowledge of the facts ".
“Today”, he concludes, “we are in a completely different world from that of a couple of years ago and we don't have infinite resources to draw on. The energy dossier must be thoroughly understood and the Authority is more than willing to lend a hand ”.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/energia/crisi-gas-governo-besseghini-arera/ on Tue, 27 Sep 2022 05:12:45 +0000.