The bill? Increasingly scorching. Blame the heat and the greater use of air conditioners, fans, and dehumidifiers, often turned on for long periods of the day. But also an increase in water consumption and higher consumption of fresh products to quench thirst. Assoutenti, one of the main national consumer protection associations, has calculated that the bill can reach up to 600 euros more per month per family.
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The guide
Hence the guide to contain expenses because “it is true that the record heat that has been raging in Italy for weeks radically changes habits and can lead to a real drain on family budgets – explains the president of Assoutenti Gabriele Melluso -, but it is possible to contain expenses by rationalizing consumption and resorting to tricks that help fight the heat without necessarily reaching into the wallet. For example – he continues – setting the air conditioner’s thermostat no lower than 25 degrees and a timer for operation during nighttime hours. It is also essential to take advantage of natural coolness by opening windows early in the morning or late in the evening to air out and closing shutters and curtains during the hottest hours.”
Scorching summer… and not only
At least it might be useful for families. But energy consumption costs, in this scorching summer, are also skyrocketing in companies. In this case, more than climate change, the impact of international tensions on energy costs weighs, particularly the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz through which 20% of the world’s liquefied natural gas passes.
“The consequences of all this – comments the general director of Confartigianato Imprese Chieti, Daniele Giangiulli – are seen daily in the shopping cart, fuel, and electricity and gas bills,” he comments. And to account for the impact of energy supply costs, he cites the study by Caem, the national consortium of Confartigianato, which negotiates tariffs for gas and energy supplies for affiliated companies.
“The situation that emerges is nothing short of disheartening – Giangiulli continues -: a leather processing company, for example, will pay 14.2% more in July compared to June for electricity, for a metalworking company it is +10.3%, for a wood processing company +10%, and for a hairdressing business +8.7%. For the budgets of Tuscan families, the rise in the cost of living translates into a drain: certified by the analyses of the National Consumers Union (Unc) on Istat data released recently relating to July inflation.
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In Tuscany
And the news is not even this, but that it could have gone much worse because the almost 700 euros more that, on average, families in the Grand Duchy are paying compared to 12 months ago, is a lot in absolute terms but relatively little when compared to the national level or other regions of Italy. Just scroll through the Unc tables to realize this: in Italy, the average price increase was 2.9%, equal to 732 euros more for each household. But in Lazio, the region that recorded the highest increases in July, the increase reaches as much as 848 euros per family, and, in general, there are twelve regions where, last month, the cost of living grew more than in Tuscany.
In short, yes, the scenario could have been worse, but it did not go too well either. First of all, because 686 euros more in a year is still a lot. And then because, in the Grand Duchy, the average increase is the result of rather differentiated situations at the territorial level.
Some cases
Just consider the case of Pistoia, seventh at the national level, and first in the region: here the cost of living weighs on family budgets by a hefty 872 euros per year, more than 200 above the regional average. At the opposite extreme is the case of Lucca, the third provincial capital in Italy where the cost of living has increased the least: here, in fact, inflation increased by 1.8% in one year corresponding to an average of 506 euros more in the same twelve months. But what really empties pockets is the scorching heat. And the August bill is yet to arrive.
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