New energy subsidies for February: “gifts” for households and businesses

Greek Environment and Energy Minister Kostas Skrekas announced on Wednesday electricity and natural gas subsidies to be applied in February for households and businesses.

The promised subsidy for electricity for the population will be 39 euros per MWh, which is 3 euros less than in January. The subsidy for enterprises is 65 euros. The subsidy for natural gas remains at 40 euros. The total cost of support measures to compensate for the high cost of energy will exceed two billion euros.

Skrekas said that the price of electricity is now 4 times higher and natural gas 5 times higher than at the beginning of last year.

The subsidy is “baby candy” as many families and businesses are on the brink of hysteria seeing recent electricity bills that have tripled or quadrupled, and often come with a 125% surcharge, vaguely referred to as an “adjustment clause” .

Our reader, a pensioner with a pension of 600 euros, who previously paid 100 euros for a 2-month bill, almost had a heart attack when she saw the latest bill of 450 euros. Some owners of large apartments have to pay 1,000 euros per month for heating. A grocery store owner in our area complained that his electricity bill had doubled from 2,500 euros to 5,000 euros. At the same time, in addition to the price of electricity directly, indirect taxes have increased – payment for electricity transmission.

Please note that many families use electric heaters due to the high prices of natural gas and heating oil. And the rest switched to wood-burning heating, since after the last snowfall, the price of firewood fell slightly. This, of course, leads to severe air pollution, which is why Athens has nothing to breathe on windless winter evenings. But who cares when the house is damp, cold and the children are freezing …

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