K. Skrekas: Increase of subsidy to 75% in electricity bills
The government’s proposal is to increase the subsidy on electricity bills to 75% of the increased costs compared to the current 50%, said the Minister of Environment and Energy Costas Skrekas, speaking today at the meeting of the board of the Athens Chamber of Commerce.
Mr. Skrekas stressed that a relevant request has already been sent to the European Competition Commission and if the increase of the subsidy is approved, it will concern only specific sectors that are highly dependent on energy.
As for the subsidy for February, as the minister said, it will continue approximately as it is. That is, electricity will be sought at 65 euros per megawatt hour and natural gas at 30 euros per megawatt hour, as was the case in January. The relevant decisions will be announced soon, while, as Mr. Skrekas notes, members of the government are the support mainly for small and medium enterprises, but there should be no fiscal derailment of the country.
In addition to the subsidies, Mr. Skrekas announced the activation within the first half of the year, of three energy upgrade programs of the products and specifically:
– “Saving” for small and medium enterprises, which finances the energy upgrade of buildings, as well as the replacement of cooling and heating systems. For this program, 400 million euros will be raised from the Recovery Fund.
– Facilitation of the installation of photovoltaics on the roofs or in adjacent plots, in order to ensure energy self-sufficiency in combination with the installation of storage systems. In fact, the minister said that the participation in this program will be done through a HEDNO platform and will concern even the areas with saturated networks, but exclusively for the integration of the Voltaic countries.
– Replacement of old air conditioners in small and medium enterprises for the upgrade of heating and cooling systems, but not for the energy upgrade of the production process – and only to save electricity and to reduce energy costs. A program for the production process, as the minister said, is being developed by the Ministry of Development and Investment.
Mr. Skrekas defended the government’s policy of rapid de-ligation and shift to renewable energy sources, stressing that according to a study by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, if there is no RES in the December system, the average wholesale price instead of 235 euros per large exceeding 430 big euro.
Source: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ