Alternate plates, agile working, speed limits: antidotes to high energy prices
Meeting between Pichetto and technicians to update the 2023 plan, but for now no measures will be triggered: gas stocks are at 44%. Meloni prepares briefing: no alarmism
The message filtering out of the government and to be reiterated by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Thursday in her report to the Houses of Parliament at the moment is one: 'We are working to be ready to manage the emergency, but without alarmism'. Because gas stocks are at 44%, against a European average of just over 20%.
Yesterday, the Minister of the Environment and Energy Security, Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, convened technicians at Mase to update the 'Contingency Plan for the Italia natural gas system' dating back to 2023 (a year after the Russian invasion of Ukraine) and the 'Preventive Action Plan for the Italian gas system', which included among the scenarios disturbances in different areas of the planet, from Libya to Azerbaijan to Turkey, but not in Iran and the Persian Gulf.
The basis of the work, which will be forwarded to Meloni with the overview and forecasts on stockpiling, is the decalogue drawn up on 20 March by the International Energy Agency (Iea), 'Sheltering from oil stocks', which recognises that the war in the Middle East unleashed by the US and Israel has resulted in the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market, due to the paralysis of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
Among the ten measures recommended to react to the shock - recalled by the EU Energy Commissioner, Dan Jørgensen, in his letter to the Twenty-Seven sent at the end of March - are alternate number plates, smart working, a push to use public transport, car sharing, a reduction of at least 10 kilometres per hour in motorway speed limits (which could cut consumption by 5 to 10%), efficient driving for commercial vehicles and goods delivery, and a reduction in the use of LPG in the transport sector. And again: avoid air travel where alternatives exist, switch to electric cooking or alternatives to gas, prioritise the processing of oil raw materials with higher volume availability.
None of this, say the executive, is on the horizon, not even the use of agile working. Least of all the hypothesis of a return to distance learning (DAD) in schools in the latter part of the school year. 'It is not contemplated,' Minister Giuseppe Valditara cut it short. But the alarm could be triggered from the end of the month, when the supply stop announced by QatarEnergy due to the damage caused by Iranian missiles at the Ras Laffan plant could begin to be felt.
