Electricity subsidy for households more than doubles

LAST UPDATE: 10:08

By Harry Floudopoulos

As energy prices remain unusually high, the government is stepping up its electricity bill subsidy in a bid to absorb most of the increases. At the same time, measures are being taken for energy-intensive businesses but also for gas consumers.

Compared to the increase of the subsidy on the electricity bills from 18 to 39 euros per month, the government is proceeding as recently announced by the Minister of Environment and Energy, Costas Skrekas. At the same time, the subsidy is increased from 24 to 45 euros per month for the beneficiaries of the CTO. The total amount of the subsidy reaches 620 million euros and will come from the proceeds of auctions for pollutants.

It is noted that last August the price of electricity in the wholesale market was at 121 euros per megawatt hour, in September it rose to 134 euros per megawatt hour and in October at 200 euros per megawatt hour. In the first days of November there is a new increase to 209 euros per megawatt hour at the same time that gas prices remain high. It is worth noting that the government had announced for September a subsidy on electricity bills of 9 euros per month which it increased to 18 euros in October to now proceed to the new increase to 39 euros per month for November and December.

At the same time, the government is suspending the charging of network usage fees for the months of November and December, a measure that equates to a reduction of 20 to 40 euros per month for gas consumers. As announced by Mr. Skrekas, the SGI charge for energy-intensive companies (low-medium industries, etc.) is suspended for five months. This facilitates the liquidity of companies with an amount of 63 million euros. “Greece is one of the first countries to take immediate action to deal with the effects of the energy crisis,” said Mr. Skrekas, noting that the establishment and operation of the Energy Transition Fund created a mechanism to absorb most of the increases.

Earlier Capital.gr It was reported that rising electricity wholesale prices in October led the government to reconsider subsidizing electricity bills for the third time. Thus, for the month of November, the subsidy from 60 euros / MWh that was valid for October, will increase to 130 euros / MWh. As it was valid for the months of September and October, the subsidy is valid for the first 300 KWh, which means that the monthly aid will reach 40 euros.

The total cost of subsidizing electricity bills is expected to exceed 600m euros, up from 470m euros announced in October.

As for the financing of the subsidy, it will come from the increased revenues of the auctions of pollutant emissions as well as from the surplus of the special RES account, which as long as the prices remain high in the energy stock market, is strengthened. That is, the new increase in the subsidy will not bring additional burdens to the budget.