Arera report, Aiget: “Lights and shadows, it is necessary to complete liberalization of the electricity sector”

“The year of the pandemic had a strong impact for the energy sector, with a national reduction in electricity consumption by 6% and natural gas by 4.2%, in all sectors. electricity consumption in the residential sector, which increased by 2%. The pandemic, however, did not limit the dynamism of the market, with a further increase in the number of suppliers present on the market “. In this context, in the opinion of Aiget who comments on the Arera report presented in recent days, “the need to set up a register of sellers for the electricity sector, announced for some time but not yet concrete, and to strengthen the requirements remains very topical of permanence in the list of sellers for the gas sector “. “Encouraging signs from the statistics relating to supplier changes from end customers, which do not seem to have been affected by the emergency situation and remained at levels not far from the previous year (13.7% in electricity and 10.2% in gas ), denoting a certain propensity on the part of consumers to realize the advantages offered by the free market “, underlines the Italian Association of Energy Wholesalers and Traders.” The processes underway – Aiget underlines – have not, however, significantly changed the characteristics structures of the energy market, in particular, in the electricity sector: the market in 2020 is still very concentrated, with Enel confirming its position as the dominant operator in retail sales and the top 5 operators supplying 80% of volumes, also as a result of the fact that the enhanced protection service, albeit in decline, continues to serve 46% of households. worrying trend, recorded in recent years, according to which a large part of customer switches consists of the transition from the operator of greater protection to sales companies of the same corporate group “. Aiget therefore considers fundamental” the commitment of all institutions to guarantee the completion of the process of liberalization of the retail market through the implementation of a framework of rules that guarantees market deconcentration, healthy competition between reliable operators and the realization of benefits for end customers “.