Power pass: Refund of charges for June bills as well

By Tasos Dasopoulos

The co-competent Ministries of Finance, Digital Governance and Energy proceeded to extend the coverage of 60% of the consumer’s “net” charges also for electricity bills issued in June a day before the payment of refunds to 2,530,597 beneficiaries who submitted an application began .

The power pass will start paying from tomorrow, refunding consumers 60% of the retroactive clause charges for bills from 1 December 2021 to 31 May 2022.

Taking into account that 280 million euros have already been committed for the implementation of the measure and that, for some of our fellow citizens, settlement bills were issued in June 2022 concerning the winter consumption period with a significant burden, the Government is proceeding to extend the measure for the bills as well which have been issued in June.

More specifically, based on the applications that have already been submitted to the Power Pass platform and without the need to submit a new application, the data for the bills issued in June will be received from the energy providers in the next period. The June accounts will be associated with the main residence and student residence declarations that beneficiaries have already declared for the month of May on the platform.

Then, the total aid for the period from 1 December to 30 June will be recalculated, and the extra amount will be paid to the bank accounts already declared by the beneficiaries, by the end of August or the beginning of September at the latest. It is noted that in the event that a beneficiary exceeds the 30 euro burden for the entire period December 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022, he will receive the total aid, i.e. the amount will be recalculated for the entire period. Accordingly, the total aid for the period 1 December 2021 to 30 June 2022 cannot exceed 600 euros.

In the meantime, detailed liquidation notices have been gradually posted since last night on the relevant Power Pass platform, which was implemented by the Information Society M.A.E. (KtP M.A.E.), a supervised body of the Ministry of Digital Governance in collaboration with the Independent Public Revenue Authority (AADE) and the General Secretariat of Public Administration Information Systems. At the same time, an informative e-mail is sent to the beneficiaries about their posting.

The amount of the aid and the distribution per beneficiary is calculated by KtP M.A.E., based on the data obtained from the suppliers or electricity managers and the AADE, in accordance with the provisions of article 36 of the law. 4936/2022 (A΄ 105) and the relevant Joint Ministerial Decision 3365/2022 (Government Gazette 2827/Β΄) as applicable.

A total of 2,952,778 applications have been submitted, concerning 2,530,597 natural persons. It is noted that a beneficiary had the right to apply in addition to the main residence for a rented residence for a dependent child studying in the country.

Of the 2.5 million natural persons, liquidation notices are posted immediately for approximately 1.9 million and which are expected to be paid tomorrow, Friday, with the amount amounting to approximately 230 million euros.

For the rest of the natural persons, the verification of the data continues and those of them who are beneficiaries are expected to be paid next week, after the issuance of the relevant information settlement slips. It is recalled that a necessary condition for receiving the aid is that the total increase in electricity bills issued within the reference period exceeds 30 euros. Based on the data so far, it is estimated that the total amount of extraordinary financial assistance for the bills issued in the period from December 1, 2021 to May 31, 2022, amounts to approximately 260 million euros.

It is noted that an amount of 280 million euros has already been transferred from the General State Expenditures of the Ministry of Finance to the Ministry of Digital Governance and then to KtP M.A.E., in order to complete the payments.