Staikuras: Electricity discount doubled, heating surcharge increased

Greek Finance Minister Christos Staikuras announced new measures to support the population in connection with the sharp rise in electricity and energy prices for households and businesses.

“Rising commodity prices pose a threat to the recovery, especially the rise in energy prices, which is an energy crisis. European crisis, but also temporary. But an acute crisis, which has a greater intensity and scale than the initial forecasts. Which is a serious burden on households. This crisis highlights a new challenge for Greece and the EU member states, ”said Mr Staikuras first and then announced action to support citizens. We are increasing the reduction in electricity consumption, doubling it with special care for households with a social tariff. The heating allowance is increasing (from + 36% to + 68%) for more than 1 million households. Also, the surcharge will be doubled (20% instead of 10%) for each child.

He stressed that the budget for the electricity subsidy will reach 326 million euros, and for the heating allowance – 168 million euros, which will bring the total amount of state aid to almost 500 million euros.

For his part, Energy Minister Kostas Skrekas said:

The subsidy will be increased to 60 euros per megawatt / hour, that is, 18 euros per kilowatt / hour per month instead of the 9 euros that were originally announced. 80 euros for recipients of a social account. The discount will be 15% especially for gas consumers.

Earlier, his deputy Theodoros Skilakakis spoke in detail about the program compensation for heating costs, where he reported a doubling of the amount of benefits, as well as a change in the criteria for recipients.

According to Mr Skilakakis:

The size of the allowance for the average family increases by 59%. The minimum amount is set at 100 euros from 80 euros, and the maximum amount is 750 euros from 650 euros. For each child, the surcharge will be 20% from 10%.

As in the previous year, the heating allowance will be paid to beneficiaries depending on the area in which they live and the climatic conditions that prevail in it, and not on the basis of geographic zones, as has been the case so far. In addition, the number of beneficiaries will increase, since those who use natural and liquefied gas (φυσικό αέριο και υγραέριο) will also be able to receive a heating allowance.

The system, created last year with the participation of the Greek Meteorological Service, establishes the real heating needs of each household in winter – taking into account geographic location, distance from the sea, altitude in the mountains, as well as other conditions and climatic data.

Under this mechanism, each designated area is entitled to a different subsidy rate. That is, the amount will increase (or decrease) depending on the climatic characteristics of each region, for each zone there will be its own tariff. In this case, the minimum amount of the subsidy is increased by 20 euros and will amount to 100 euros.

Criteria:

The maximum annual household income will rise to € 14,000 from € 12,000 last year; for a family with two children it will be € 26,000 (up from € 24,000 in 2020), and for a family with three children the income limit increases to € 29,000 … At the same time, the value of real estate for a single person has been adjusted from 130,000 euros to 180,000 euros, and for a married person – to 300,000 euros from the current 250,000.

Based on the above, a family with two children in the center of Athens will receive an allowance of 181 euros from 114 euros this year, in the center of Thessaloniki 299 euros from 188 euros, in Kozani the amount of the benefit increases to 469 euros from 295 euros, and in Florin the amount increases up to 496 euros.

Mr Skilakakis announced that the total amount of the heating grant will increase to 168 million euros from 84 million euros (in 2020), and the number of beneficiaries will rise to one million from 700,000 last year. …



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