A new bonus on bills is coming for almost four million families, but we will have to wait until 2028. It is one of the main measures contained in the social plan for the climate prepared by the government to try to cushion the impact on families of Ets2, the new European system that will also make CO2 emissions payable on fuels used in buildings and road transport.
Environment Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin provided new details to the Chamber. The energy plus social bonus will have a total allocation of 1.34 billion euros between 2028 and 2031 and will be aimed at families with an ISEE of no more than 25 thousand euros. The audience estimated by the government is around four million families every year.
How the Energy Plus Bonus will work
It should not be necessary to participate in a click day or submit a specific application. The mechanism envisaged by the Plan is similar to that of the current social bonus: the benefit should automatically appear on the electricity bill, in the form of a reduction in the tariff, for those who meet the requirements.
The amount, however, will not necessarily be the same for everyone. The Plan provides that the support is modulated taking into account the economic condition, the climatic zone in which the family lives and the actual exposure to the increased costs caused by Ets2. In colder areas, where the need for energy for heating is greater, the impact of the new CO2 price could indeed be more severe.
How the upcoming maxi energy tax works
However, the overall figure allows us to understand the order of magnitude of the intervention. Dividing 1.34 billion by four million families and for the four years of application, we obtain approximately 84 euros per year per household as a purely theoretical average value. It does not mean that the bonus will be 84 euros: some beneficiaries may receive more and others less, based on the criteria that will be established.
Another 95 million to have more powerful meters
There is also a much less flashy measure in the Plan, but one destined to concretely change the way we use energy in our homes. The government provides 95.2 million euros between 2027 and 2032 to increase the available power of vulnerable families’ electricity meters. The objective is to reach approximately 865 thousand families, with contributions that can cover up to 100% of the eligible costs for the increase in contractual power and for some technical adjustments to the domestic system.
The reason is simple. The classic 3 kW Italian domestic supply risks becoming insufficient when gas is replaced in the same home with electrical appliances: heat pump for heating, induction hob for cooking, electric boiler, air conditioners and perhaps an electric car to recharge.
The 95 million, therefore, do not constitute a bonus to directly buy a heat pump or an induction hob. They serve to eliminate one of the obstacles to electrification: the cost necessary to increase the power of the meter and adapt the electrical system when necessary.
A plan worth over 9 billion against the new CO2 tax
The two measures are part of a much larger package. The Italian Social Climate Plan mobilizes approximately 9.35 billion euros overall, of which approximately 7 billion come from the European Social Climate Fund and over 2.3 billion from national co-financing.
Over 3.2 billion will be allocated to the energy requalification of public residential buildings and the properties of vulnerable micro-enterprises. Another approximately 4.6 billion will concern sustainable mobility, from the strengthening of public transport to the new “mobility account”.
The reason why the new energy bonus will only start in 2028 is directly linked to Ets2. From that year the European emissions system will be extended to fuels used to heat buildings and power road transport. The cost of CO2 will not be formally paid by the individual driver or family, but by fuel suppliers, with the risk that it will be at least partly passed on to the prices of petrol, diesel and heating.
And it is precisely this increase that Brussels has planned to compensate, at least for the most vulnerable families, through the Social Climate Fund. The Italian Plan, however, is not yet definitively operational. After the green light from the Council of Ministers on 4 August, the document was sent to the European Commission on 6 August. Only at the end of the discussion with Brussels and with the subsequent implementation measures will the amounts, requirements and methods of access to the individual benefits be defined in detail.