1451 Crazy Energy Costs? - Gas & Electricity

This table appeared on the national newspaper La Repubblica on Saturday last highlighting the enormous differences in energy costs among EU states both before and after government taxes. Italy really sticks out like a sore thumb with energy costs over double that of the UK (19cents vs 8cents for electricity and 64 cents vs 28cents for gas!!). Many will say that there are no natural resources in Italy, however a glance at the government taxes applied (especially on natural gas) gives an idea of how penalizing energy consumption really is in Italy. Perhaps this policy makes sense …. An interesting debate! As of October, electricity is forecasted increase by a further 8% and gas by 4%.

Energy Costs in Italy (in cents)
Source: AEEG Eurostat , July 2004
Electricity - cents/KWh / Gas - cents/m3

EU State / Taxed- Net- / Taxed- Net-
Austria/ 14- 10- / 51- 34-
Belgium/ 14- 11- / 41- 33-
Denmark/ 23- 9- / 94- 42-
France/ 11- 9- / 39- 33-
Germany/ 17- 13- / 49- 36-
Ireland/ 13- 11- / 34- 30-
Italy/ 19- 14- / 64- 37-
Luxembourg/ 14- 12- / 27- 26-
Holland/ 18- 10- / 50- 31-
Portugal/ 14- 13- / 47- 45-
UK/ 8- 8- / 28- 27-
Spain/ 11- 9- / 43- 37-
Sweden/ 14- 8- / 74- 37-
Average EU/ 13- 10- / 44- 33-

Having said that, there is a campaign underway at the moment to promote alternative energy sources with a lot of attention placed on photovoltaic cells to generate domestic electricity where the national grid will “buy back” excess electricity at 3 times their own KWh tariff. Even the banks are participating to cover the initial capital cost of installation and arranging repayments in the form of electricity credits. The full article can be found in Il sole 24 ore [url]http://www.ilsole24ore.com/fc?cmd=art&artId=696744&chId=30[/url]

Perhaps things don’t appear so dull after all !!

David
[url]www.ourtoscana.com[/url]