The amendment, introduced in Parliament on Tuesday, caps the maximum profit from the sale of home appliances subsidized under the Ministry of Development’s Replace My Home Appliances program.
The cap appears to have been seen as a necessity after eligible consumers denounced “rising prices” for air conditioners, refrigerators and freezers.
The subsidy program aims to encourage a shift to more energy efficient models by offering subsidies for the purchase of new appliances in exchange for removing old ones such as air conditioners, refrigerators and freezers.
Amendment limits gross profit from the sale of each appliance at an equivalent profit per unit through December 31, 2022, in an effort to prevent price gouging and protect consumer purchasing power, and to ensure that the program is as effective as possible so that the benefits go to consumers, thus maximizing purchases of more energy efficient appliances.
The restriction will be in place for the duration of the Replace My Appliances program. Violations carry escalating fines, ranging from a warning to stop charging inflated prices to fines ranging from 5,000 to one million euros. The same amendment extends a law allowing the government to release the names of companies that violate windfall restrictions during a crisis to the end of the year.
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