“No willingness to review the raise”
A stalemate emerged from yesterday’s meeting, as the Government announced that on Monday 3 January 2022 it will take note of the resolutions passed by the competent Authority. Therefore, from 1 January 2022, increases, equal to approximately 30%, in gas and electricity bills will be triggered. According to the estimates announced, these increases will lead to an average annual increase for households of approximately 250 euros for gas and 80 euros for electricity. A real drain, especially for less well-off families. In any case, the Authority must be acknowledged that it has decided to contain the faith, compared to the requests of the AASS, which were even much higher, more or less in line with what happened across the border, where the increases have already taken place and propose new ones. It is also appreciable that the Authority shared the fact that although in San Marino the tariffs have been at a standstill for 12 years, unlike in Italy, this cannot require a plausible one to justify the increases. In this regard, the CSdL, jointly with the Consumers Office, pointed out that, despite the freezing of tariffs, in San Marino the payment has been higher than in the district for years. This is mainly due to the exponential increases in the prices of food products, equal to about 600% in relation to those found in the Municipality of Rimini, in the last 4 years. The purchasing power of workers and retirees has therefore dropped significantly and now for some families it is in danger of collapsing. Think of those who have health problems and in fact never leave the house in winter. For the statistics, these are large consumers, for whom the average of the announced 330 euros per year could greatly increase. In reality, they are people in need of help and will instead be called to pay for the effects of the energy crisis more than others. Another consequence of the increases will be the conflict that could characterize the season of contract renewals, because it will not be possible to tolerate a failure to adjust salaries to the disproportionate increase in the cost of living. The country, on the other hand, would need unity, given the complexity of the interventions to be implemented to contain budget deficits and a frightening public debt. If the issue of income policy did not return to the top of the political agenda, the government would take responsibility for a social confrontation. For these other countries, requests for public intervention have been requested, as else they have done, aimed at calming the rise in tariffs. We have received from the Executive a general willingness to tackle the issue as part of the possible interventions of the Extraordinary Fund envisaged by the budget law for 2022; we will see if these statements are given substance. For its part, the AASS has undertaken the commitment to modify the structure of the invoices, to allow a better understanding by users and to perform a regular reading of the meters, in order to avoid very high bills, also for the relative balance. to the advances paid. In this regard, the AASS has ensured that the consumption of gas and electricity up to 31 December 2021 will be calculated with the tariffs in force.
cs CSdL Consumer Counter Association