Agencies-Gaza post
One in six Italians faces energy poverty
The southern regions of the country are most at risk, warns the Italian Crafts Association
One in six Italians, or as many as nine million people, could be plunged into energy poverty due to rising bills across the EU, Italian news agency ANSA reported on Saturday, citing Italy’s General Confederation of Crafts.
Households are considered to be in energy poverty when they cannot afford regular heating in winter or use air conditioning in summer and are forced to forego or severely limit the use of high-energy household appliances.
According to reports, the southern regions of the country have been hardest hit. In Campania, between 519,000 and 779,000 households use electricity or gas on an irregular basis. In Sicily there are between 481,000 and 722,000, in Calabria 287,000 such households.
Earlier this week, local media reported that Italy’s environment minister, Roberto Cingolani, was planning to ask the entire population to turn down the heating from October. Italy has already introduced some restrictions on the use of central heating in public buildings and apartment blocks and these are expected to be tightened under the new measures.
On Friday, the Italian soccer league Serie A announced plans to limit the use of floodlights in stadiums to four hours on matchdays as part of energy saving measures. The new regulation aims to reduce the power consumption of floodlights by around 25%.
