Acea group customers: electricity and water services

CONSTANT INCREASE IN “PROSUMERS” CONNECTED TO THE ACEA NETWORKS: +28% IN 2023

A prosumer is at the same time a producer and consumer of energy; it partially or totally ensures its own energy supply and transfers any surplus produced to the grid. These entities play an increasingly important and widespread role, interacting with both the distributor and the entity in charge of selling/collecting energy. Acea responds adequately to the evolution of the energy model, by developing the capacity of connection, transmission and distribution systems.

At 31.12.2023, there were 23,113 prosumers active on the energy distribution network managed by Areti: this figure, compared to the 17,993 prosumers recorded in 2022, shows annual growth of 28%, greater than the percentage increase recorded between 2022 and 2021. This trend indicates the evolution, now under way, in the energy production/consumption model, which could support the development of “Energy Communities”.

The largest number of prosumers (18,940) are qualified as “domestic prosumers”, i.e. customers with residential user contracts who are also small-scale energy producers, and 4,173 are qualified as “other uses”, i.e. non-domestic users (businesses, professional firms and artisans). About 13,000 of the prosumers on the Acea network are fed Acea Energia customers. The energy fed into the grid by these entities in 2023 is 87.13 GWh, of which about 73% is from photovoltaic sources.

ELECTRICITY AND GAS SOCIAL BONUS: SAVINGS OF AROUND € 71 MILLION FOR ELIGIBLE ACEA ENERGIA CUSTOMERS

The electricity and gas social bonus is envisaged for customers with economic difficulties and customers who, due to their health status, require energy-intensive medical equipment. This mechanism underwent regulatory changes in recent years⁶⁴, which introduced, among other things, automatic application to citizens/households who are eligible for electricity and gas social bonuses due to economic difficulties⁶⁵ (while the bonus for physical problems continues to be managed by municipalities and/or CAF). These changes led, in 2023, to another significant increase in the number of users of the bonus (electricity and gas) and to the amounts recognised. In particular, in 2023, 151,196 Acea Energia customers benefited from the electricity bonus (greater protection service and free market),⁶⁶ (around 39% more than the 108,909 customers in 2022), with economic savings generated for eligible customers of around € 53.8 million. In detail, 150,029 bonuses were paid for economic hardship (99% of the total) and 1,462 for physical hardship (state of health), making a total of 151,491, which is higher than the number of beneficiary customers as one customer may benefit from both subsidies.

Similarly to the electricity bonus, ARERA provides for the "GAS bonus", with similar procedures. The number of customers eligible for this bonus in 2023 was 54,523 (29,752 in 2022), representing economic savings equal to about € 16.8 million.

Overall, during the year, the bonus system (both electricity and gas) resulted in savings of over € 70.6 million for Acea Energia customers who benefited from it (this figure in 2022 was € 60.6 million. In the territory served by the distribution network managed by Areti, which refers to customers served by both Acea Energia and other sellers, in 2023 there was a total of 157,157 customers eligible for the electricity bonus (155,333 for financial hardship, 1,824 67 Pursuant to Decree Law no. 124 of 26 October 2019, converted with amendments by Law no. 157 of 19 December 2019. 68 Resolution 366/2021/R/com. for physical hardship), recording an increase of around 24% in the number of those eligible (126,584 eligible for the bonus in 2022). The major changes recorded in the year should be considered mainly in relation to the legislative amendment of the ISEE threshold value for accessing the benefits (from € 12,000 for 2022 to € 15,000 for 2023) and the expansion of the subsidies to those receiving national income.

NATIONAL WATER AND SUPPLEMENTAL SOCIAL BONUS FOR ACEA GROUP COMPANIES: TOTAL SAVINGS OF OVER € 22.2 MILLION FOR BENEFICIARIES

The social water bonus, implemented by ARERA, provides for a discount for the supply of water to domestic users under ascertained socio-economic hardship, based on specific thresholds of the ISEE indicator and calculated according to family numbers (per capita basis), applying the discounted tariff to the quantity of water required to satisfy the protected amount (about 50 litres/inhabitant/day). Area Governing Bodies may introduce or confirm further measures of protection for users in financially vulnerable conditions, granting a local “supplementary water bonus”. From 1 January 2021 the national water social bonuses for financial hardship were automatically recognised for eligible citizens/households, without requiring submission of an application67. Over the last three years, the Authority has established regulations for application methods, quantification criteria and payment of the bonus to those eligible, as well as the activities and roles played by various actors. The automatic recognition of the bonus involves an exchange of information flows between the Water Operator, Acquirente Unico SpA (the manager of the Integrated Information System) and INPS, assigning to the Operators the responsibility of processing the personal data⁶⁸ required to identify the users and pay the bonuses. Verification of the adequacy of privacy safeguards is carried out progressively, allowing for information to be sent to individual Managers once completed; the regulations became fully operational in 2023. At the end of December, with its resolution 622, the Authority amended certain methods used to update and quantify the social bonuses, which will take effect in 2024.

In 2023 Acea Ato 2, already fully operational as from 2022, paid national water bonuses to 239,259 users, for a value of around € 10.6 million and supplementary water bonuses (local) to 3,047 users for a value of € 647,941.
Acea Ato 5, already fully operational as from 2022, paid national water bonuses to 16,207 users during the year in question, generating total economic savings for its beneficiaries of around € 2.2 million.

AdF, with reference to the national water bonus, began to receive information from Acquirente Unico in May 2023 (for bonuses relative to 2021, 2022 and 2023). Therefore, at 31 December 2023 it had paid this type of bonus to 20,377 users, for a value of around € 4.1 million and continued to pay the supplementary water bonus to 4,549 users, for a total of € 560,378.

Gori, fully operational as from 2022, paid the national water bonus to 102,054 users, for a value of around € 3.3 million.

Gesesa began receiving information from Acquirente Unico to pay the national water bonus in May 2023 (for bonuses relative to 2021, 2022 and 2023) and, at 31 December 2023, had paid national water bonuses to 19,939 users, for a value of 829,377.

Considering all the figures for national and supplementary water bonuses, when applied, for the water companies in the scope of consolidation, the system generated total economic savings for beneficiaries of over € 22.2 million.