Energy market
Relative to the national electricity market, 2022 demand for electricity was 315,238 GWh (data: Terna), down by 1.3% compared to the previous year, confirming the downward trend already seen at the end of the third quarter, while the first six months of the year had seen an increase of 2% compared to the same period in 2021.
Energy production, less self-consumption and consumption by pumping (26,431 GWh, -3.4%), was at 245,872 GWh, down by 1.4% compared to 2021, covering 78% of the requirement, while the net amount was stable, totalling 42,935 GWh (+0.4%), contributing 13.6% to meeting demand. Production from just thermoelectric sources (168,024 GWh, +6.8%) satisfied 53.3% of demand, called on to offset the dramatic decrease in hydroelectric production, which had already fallen dramatically at the beginning of the year and was definitively weakened by the summer and autumn drought (29,663 GWh, -34.7%).
In the face of a slight decrease from geothermal sources (5,444 GWh, -1.5%), photovoltaic production (22,511 GWh) saw a significant increase in production compared to 2021 (+12.2%), while wind fell significantly in the last quarter, leading the annual figure to fall compared to the previous year (20,230 GWh, -2.9%). Note that, as of December 2022, the European Commission established a limit of € 180/MWh for revenue from these low-cost renewable sources, which therefore will not receive the higher price determined by the most costly source (gas) until June 2023, generating extra benefits for Member States that can be transferred to consumer bills.
In 2022, the average Single National Price (SNP) was € 303.95/MWh, up by 142% compared to the previous year. The dramatic increase in electricity prices in Italy during the summer was followed by a similarly large drop in autumn, to the extent that average prices in October and November were below pre-conflict levels, with the entire last quarter averaging € 243.83/MWh, substantially in line with the fourth quarter of 2021 (+0.8%) and half of the figure seen in the third quarter of 2022 (-48%).
DAM: Single National Price (SNP)
With regard to natural gas, national demand in 2022 totalled 66,022 Msmc (data: Snam Rete Gas), a 10.2% drop compared to 2021, due to a generalised decline in all segments. Distribution (29,076 Msmc, -13.5%), which includes residential and SMEs, saw a partial decline in the spring/summer load for SMEs due to price increases, but above all due to a delay in the autumn increase in thermal load and a generalised lower use of district heating, due to above average temperatures and consumption containment measures as in Regulation EU 2022/1369 of 5 August. The industrial segment (11,985 Msmc, -14.3%) saw a progressive decrease in the load starting in the beginning of the year, accentuated by the summer when utility bills effectively forced companies to slow and/or halt production. The thermoelectric segment (24,961 Msmc, -3.6%), which rose during the first half of 2022, saw the trend reverse in the third quarter due to a massive switch from gas to coal for electricity production and the already cited drop in electricity demand, above all in the last quarter of the year.