Natural gas price for domestic consumers in regulated market in Italy Q1 2020-Q1 2024

In Italy, the regulated market price of natural gas for households with an average annual consumption of 1,400 cubic meters boomed at 137 euro cents per cubic meter in the first quarter of 2022, after the cut-off of natural gas exports from Russia. The Italian government ended the gas regulated market at the end of 2024. The price for 2024 refers to an average annual consumption of 1,100 cubic meters in the vulnerability protection service.

Natural gas price trends

The natural gas price started to increase in 2021, when the natural gas consumption worldwide and in Italy increased compared to 2020 due to the economic recovery after the COVID-19 crisis. In the second and third quarters of 2021, the additional natural gas price growth was driven by the global gas market tightening in Europe and Asia. In 2022, Italy was strongly hit by the energy crisis, since Russia was one of the main natural gas suppliers to this country, providing around 40 percent of the total natural gas imports.

Impact of natural gas on electricity prices in Italy

Natural gas is the main source of electricity in Italy. For this reason, the electricity price for average household consumers in Italy increased along with the natural gas price, reaching a record of over 66 euro cents per kilowatt-hour in the fourth quarter of 2022.