Energy: Italians are prepared to do anything to save on their bills

They’re in favour of the environment, provided their energy bills don’t rise too much. Open to nuclear power and even Russian gas, especially if these two options help to save on energy costs. Because, when it comes to balancing the books, Italian households show considerable pragmatism, even at the cost of cutting back on investment in the environment and renewables.

This is the picture painted by the new Censis-Confcooperative report, ‘Primum vivere: the energy pragmatism of Italians’, carried out on a sample of 1,000 households, which is statistically representative of the target population and supplemented with structural data on prices, consumption and energy poverty compiled by Censis from various sources (Istat, the Ministry of the Environment, OIPE and ARERA).

“Italian households, after years of fluctuating bills and price rises that have at times spiralled out of control, have become pragmatic to the point of being unscrupulous,” commented Maurizio Gardini, president of Confcooperative. “To put out the fire in their household budgets, they are prepared to explore, collectively, every possible avenue: renewables, yes, but also new-generation nuclear power, a return to Russian gas and even coal.”

The Italians’ “defensive pragmatism” “borders on the paradoxical”, according to the survey, which found that 82.2 per cent of households across the peninsula want to accelerate the transition to renewables without nuclear power, but more than half of those surveyed (54.5 per cent) are nonetheless open to investing in new-generation nuclear power stations when it comes to tackling energy costs.

This latter aspect, in the view of 49.7 per cent of those surveyed, also justifies reopening the taps on Russian gas supplies. But that is not all. In an attempt to keep energy bills under control, coal – the ‘oldest’ and most controversial source of energy – is also making a comeback. Support for nuclear power increases with income (60.9 per cent among the wealthiest, compared with 51.2 per cent among those on the lowest incomes), whilst willingness to accept Russian gas and coal is most widespread precisely among households with the fewest resources.