Reason for high prices – Italian gastronomy shows electricity bills in displays

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Italian cafe owners hang their electricity bills in their shop windows to justify the price increases. The campaign is supported by trade association Confcommercio. Italian restaurateurs issue electricity bills in shop windows

“A large-scale nationwide campaign aims to raise awareness among citizens and customers of bars and restaurants about the dramatic situation businesses find themselves in,” lamented Aldo Cursano, vice president of FIPE-Confcommercio, in a press release on Wednesday. The gas bill has tripled in several cases.

Association warns of inflation spiral
“If the government doesn’t intervene, local owners will either continue to raise prices or go bankrupt. We count on the sensitivity of citizens and customers,” the trade association said. The support measures that the government has taken so far are completely insufficient for the extra costs incurred for companies by the high energy prices. The association warned of a spiral of inflation that would bring an already stagnant consumption in Italy to a halt.

Many pizzeria owners have to raise their prices, often with a heavy heart. “I am forced to ask 10 euros for a pizza margherita instead of 5 as before, otherwise I have to close the business,” complained Alberto Rovati, owner of pizzeria “Funky Gallo” in Roncadello in Lombardy. To justify the higher prices for his dishes, he also hung the last electricity bill in the window of his pizzeria. For the month of July, he had to pay a bill of 4000 euros, 300 percent higher than in July 2021, when he had to pay 1350 euros.

“I don’t want to scare my customers by issuing the invoice, I just want to send a signal that it can’t go on like this. As long as I can, I’ll keep working, then we’ll see,” Rovati said.

Entrepreneur published invoice on the internet
What affects the pizzeria owner on a small scale burdens businesses on a larger scale, especially those with high energy needs. The owner of a cannery factory near the southern Italian port city of Salerno received an electricity bill of one million euros, almost ten times more than in the same period a year ago. Entrepreneur Francesco Francese published the two electricity bills for July 2022 and the comparative month 2021 on social networks.

According to the entrepreneur, the bill from a year ago was a high but “acceptable” amount of 120,000 euros, as July and August are the hottest time for tomato processing. The electricity bill for July 2022 alone of 978,000 euros surprised and outraged the manufacturer, who placed a bitter comment next to the photos of the bills.

“Entrepreneurs are left alone”
“While our politicians compete for a seat in parliament, entrepreneurs are left alone in the midst of the energy jungle,” Francese wrote, referring to the September 25 general election.

Italian households and companies have been suffering from high energy prices for months. A few weeks ago, the government of outgoing Prime Minister Mario Draghi released an aid package containing aid measures of the order of 14 billion euros to offset the negative effects of high energy prices. However, these are assessed as insufficient by the entrepreneurs.

Source: Krone

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