Utility bills, the government's plan for a new one-off contribution to fragile families
On the table a new raw material bonus of 55 euro for economically disadvantaged households
Key points
The government is working on a new one-off subsidy for the most fragile families, which should be included in the Energy Decree under consideration by the Ministry for the Environment and Energy Security, expected in one of the next Councils of Ministers, as Premier Giorgia Meloni made clear during her press conference at the start of the year. The dowry available for the measures under study, at the moment, is one billion euro, which should come from the resources contained in the Cassa per i servizi energetici e ambientali, where, as is known, the funds collected in bills through system charges flow.
The measure at study
What is the executive evaluating? Having exhausted the extraordinary contribution that was guaranteed to economically disadvantaged households (with an Isee up to 25,000 euro) during 2025, in addition to the social electricity bonus, the new benefit is configured, according to the drafts circulated so far, as a new extraordinary contribution of 55 euro on the raw material for electricity supplies only. This is in addition to the ordinary bonus guaranteed to households with an IseeI not exceeding 9,530 euo and to large families with at least four dependent children and an Isee up to 20,000 euros.
Arera directs the mechanism
Unlike the previous contribution, however, the number of beneficiaries would be narrower because, at the moment, the new bonus would only be granted to households with an Isee up to 15,000 euro or, in the case of larger households (i.e. those with at least four dependent children) with an Isee under 20,000 euro. As for the previous contributions, the operation of the new benefit is to be determined by the Authority for Energy, Networks and Environment.
The dispensing node
In the case of the €200 subsidy, which, let us remember, was only in force for 2025, the allocation had taken place automatically and in rate from last June. As for the new bonus, we will have to wait for the go-ahead for the government decree and then the rules that will be approved by the Authority chaired by Nicola Dell'Acqua following the green disk from Palazzo Chigi.
The target group of potential beneficiaries
But how many will be the potential beneficiaries of the new measure once it is enacted? According to the estimates in circulation, based on data on current energy bonus recipients and those who benefited from similar measures in 2023, the audience would be around 4.5 million households. The cost of the measure amounts to approximately 250 million euro.
