Dear energy, methane distributors also close in Genoa: “We are destined to fail”
Genoa. From tomorrow the methane distributor in via Levati in Bolzaneto closes its doors. “At least for a month, but not so if it will be enough”, explains the owner Sandro Tripodi. The retail price today was close to i 3 euros per kilo: to think that until a year ago it did not reach one euro. “AND tomorrow I have to put it at 4.50. So it no longer makes sense ”. The result is easily imaginable: almost zero clientele, operating costs that far exceed revenues, no economic convenience to keep open.
It is one of many side effects of abnormal increases in the price of gas that risk bringing entire productive sectors to their knees. Starting with those who supplied cars and trucks with that gas, offering a much cheaper (and slightly more ecological) alternative to petrol and diesel. “In a word we are at war, even if it is not said – Tripodi unleashes -. We are among the companies that must fail. Obviously we don’t have any help from anyone. In twenty years I have never closed, we have always been open 365 days a year for 14 hours a day. From tomorrow I close up to data to be destined, as most distributors are doing. We will see, not like that if I will resume“.
In Genoa there are only two methane distributors: that of Bolzaneto, managed by Tripodi, and that of via Piacenza in Valbisagno managed by the Emilian company Me-Tra, which for now has not wanted to comment on the situation. In via Levati, a few meters from the motorway exit, are employ everything eight people, also counting the service area with adjoining bar. All jobs at risk, such as those of employees of energy-intensive industries who can no longer bear the costs of production and prefer to shut down the plants.
According to Tripodi the fault is not only of the war, but also of the speculative logic of the large companies: “We have always been an Eni certified plant. Once there were fixed price contracts that lasted up to three years because methane was the most stable fuel of all. In June 2021, when it was time to renew the contract, Eni decided that it would sell us the gas at the stock market price, despite having many low-cost contracts in his stomach. And he signed up with all the other suppliers: Edison, Enel, Sorgenia. The cost went from 20 cents to 3.60 euros per cubic meter, twelve times that. So we have to adjust the price every day, according to the prices “.
It is estimated that the car fleet running on methane in recent years was about 2% of the total. In the province of Genoa in 2021 there were about 418 cars in circulation, so it is estimated that Genoese distributors buy a pool of over thousand machines, not counting heavy vehicles. A once solid clientele, which in a few months has almost evaporated. Those who still fill up with gas today are mainly truckers and company car drivers, but most of them are replacing the fleet. And the methane distributors are closing, perhaps not to reopen more.
Meanwhile, after the opening of Austria and Germany al ceiling for the price of gas at a European level, prices are falling. The Ttf contract, the reference for European gas treated in Amsterdam, end the day down by 6.8% to 254 euros per megawatt hour. And despite this just today Gazprom has interrupted supplies to Italy through the pipeline North stream, check for maintenance. The Russian giant had previously announced a three-day stop, linked to work on a compressor station in northern Germany, from which the gas is then exported to other Europeans.