Here’s how Salvini and Starace (Enel) get electrified about profits and bills
Salvini accuses Enel of having collected "monstrous" profits with the energy price crisis, Starace denies. Here are statements, facts and analyzes
Referring to the increase in electricity and gas bills also in the first quarter of 2022, Lega secretary Matteo Salvini said that "there are some large companies of obvious national interest – I don't mention names and surnames: Enel – that are grinding monstrous profits and that we hope they feel the social responsibility of putting the Italian community, businesses and families, on the balance sheet in a complicated period like this one ".
THE IMPACT ON FAMILIES AND BUSINESSES
The increases in bills, in fact, will translate into greater spending for citizens and will inevitably also weigh on economic activities, in particular – but not only – for those companies that consume large quantities of energy.
THE ATTACK OF SALVINI
Salvini added that "there is someone who is making crazy margins, but it is a moment in which I think everyone should put one hand on their conscience and the other on their wallet, which is very swollen: so if a part of these profits were returned to businesses and families, it would not be bad ".
THE WORDS OF GIORGETTI (MiSE)
The Minister of Economic Development Giancarlo Giorgetti, and deputy secretary of the League, used softer words than Salvini's to express a concept, however, very similar. "I think it is a shared opinion within the government", he said, "that the extra-profits of those who, in relation to this very particular situation, are registering", or the context of sharp increase in energy prices at the 'wholesale, "must in some way contribute to general taxation to allow action to be taken against the most disadvantaged categories".
The government has allocated 3.8 billion dollars to contain the increase in bills: the funds are destined for 29 million families and 6 million micro-enterprises and consist above all in a substantial reduction of the system charges present in the bills.
TAX EXTRA PROFITS OF ELECTRICITY COMPANIES?
Giorgetti announced that the "direction" is that of a taxation of the extra margins of energy companies, but did not provide details on the maneuver. He only stated that "the modalities are being studied by the Ministry of Economy".
Enel, the electricity company brought up by Salvini, is owned by the state: the Ministry of Economy owns 23.6 percent. But, as Il Sole 24 Ore points out , its capital is also made up of foreign investors, it is unlikely that they will be able to appreciate choices such as those proposed by the Secretary of the League and by the Minister Giorgetti.
THE REPLY OF STARACE (ENEL)
Interviewed by Repubblica , Enel's CEO, Francesco Starace, said that "we have not made extra profits" because the energy that the company sells to its customers on the free market has "prices set two or three years earlier". “So even now”, continued Starace, “having already sold our energy, we have not had extra profits and our customers, who had the prices set long ago, are protected from this gas volatility. We are not among those who have benefited from the gas lottery ”.
THE COMMENT OF TABARELLI (NOMISMA)
However, Enel's reconstruction does not convince Davide Tabarelli , professor of economics at the University of Bologna and president of the energy research company Nomisma Energia. “As far as I know”, he explained to La Stampa , “companies contract in advance only the electricity produced with gas, to protect themselves from fluctuations, and not that from renewables. Do they say it's not like that? If they are right, then the extra profit is done by someone else: the banks or other traders in the sector who buy from them and then speculate ”. "Politics must prevail over finance," adds the economist. But it's not that simple.
As explained by La Stampa , in fact, “it is in the nature of finance to bet on price fluctuations to make profits. In short, whoever bought a year ago at 70 euros and now resells at 250 has simply won a bet that, if he had lost, no one would now refund ". How – asks the newspaper – will the government justify a punitive measure against those who make legitimate profits?
LEAGUE-M5S POLITICAL CLASH?
Behind the energy question – according to the reconstruction of the newspaper directed by Massimo Giannini – there is a political clash between Lega and Movimento 5 Stelle: the first wants to protect A2A, a Lombard energy distribution company owned by the municipalities of Brescia and Milan; the second Enel.
However, an agreement in principle was reached between the two parties, La Stampa reconstructs: a levy will be imposed on companies and energy intermediaries on the basis of the margins reported in 2020 and 2021.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/energia/ecco-come-salvini-e-starace-enel-si-elettrizzano-su-profitti-e-bollette/ on Thu, 13 Jan 2022 08:24:20 +0000.