Everything as expected. In October 2026, wholesale gas prices increased as did end-user spending. The result, Arera reports, is that the approximately 2.3 million users managed by the Gas Vulnerability Protection Service have suffered a price increase of 9.1% with the cost of the raw material rising to 88.36 euros/MWh.
The protection service includes domestic gas users registered to people who satisfy at least one of the following requirements defined by law:
- Age 75 years or older.
- Holders of the Gas Social Bonus for economic hardship (based on the ISEE bracket).
- People with disabilities pursuant to article 3 of Law 104/92.
- Utilities located in emergency housing facilities following calamitous events.
Predictable increases in gas prices
However, the cost of gas is also experiencing increases on the free market. The cause is due to tensions in the Middle East and the low level of EU storage which at the end of October was 75% full, well below the minimum threshold of 80% set at community level. Italian storage is 91% full, but we are still exposed to price increases because the price of gas is determined on interconnected markets, where demand from other countries also influences the price of gas sold to Italians (we explained it here).