(Bloomberg) – Italy’s government says bonuses paid to the country’s electricity grid operator are justified despite increasing costs for consumers, and calls out the practices identified in a Bloomberg News investigation. defended.
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Vania Gaba, deputy minister for environment and energy security, said consumers would have had to pay even more if operator Terna Spa had not been rewarded for its cost-cutting efforts in the so-called “dispatch” market. told the lawmakers. Thursday in Rome.
“Under the same conditions, without Terna’s optimization intervention, the temporary services would have increased by The cost would have been almost double the recorded cost.” And avoid power outages.
In response to a formal request for comment from opposition members, he said rising gasoline prices made it difficult to further reduce these costs.
Bloomberg News reported in November that Italian power companies used trading techniques to profit from coronavirus lockdowns, generating additional revenue of 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) above wholesale power prices in 2020. It was reported that it brought about
The study found that solutions aimed at reducing these windfalls instead resulted in a net increase in consumer spending of 692 million euros in 2022. Despite this, it was revealed that Italy’s electricity grid manager received a €334.7 million bonus that year for cost reductions under a government program.
Within two weeks of the report, MP Enrico Cappelletti formally asked government ministers to review the costs to consumers and the bonus paid to Terna.
“The problem is that there are no savings in rates for consumers,” Mr Cappelletti, a member of the Five Star Movement Party, told the deputy minister at Thursday’s hearing.
Terna said high gasoline prices in 2022 made it difficult to reduce costs, and improvements to its power grid and trading strategy helped prevent costs from rising further. Grid manager and electricity regulator Alera said Terna had taken steps to reduce costs in the electricity distribution market, where it often costs many times more than wholesale electricity prices. These costs are passed on to consumers through their electricity bills.
A Bloomberg report reveals how electricity consumers are being hit with unexpected additional costs due to grid flaws, policy loopholes and the machinations of companies with powerful market power. It was part of a year-long global investigation.
–With assistance from Chiara Albanese, Jerrold Colten, and Gina Turner.
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