The government is frantically searching for additional funds to keep supporting its energy subsidies program, fearing a further reduction in Russian gas and oil supplies to Europe in autumn and even higher fuel, natural gas and electricity prices.

Athens’ current support package for households and businesses, worth 3.2 billion euros, of which 1.1 billion has been drawn from the budget, will not suffice should energy prices continue rising.

The government is looking to make the most of all available European funding programs, such as the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF), the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), and REPowerEU, the recent plan established by the European Commission to end the EU’s reliance on Russian fossil fuels.

Athens is examining whether support from these sources, combined with national budget money, would be enough to offer consumers ongoing protection from further energy price rises.

According to a worst-case scenario, the country’s overall electricity cost this year will reach between 14 and 15 billion euros, triple the pre-crisis and war level of 5 billion euros.

Also, every 10 euro rise in the price of natural gas decreases Greece’s GDP by 500 to 600 million euros and requires 300 to 400 billion euros in budget money for offsetting consequent electricity price increases.