Residential tariff subsidies of 1.5 cents per KWh for April

Standard electricity subsidies for residential tariffs in April have been set at 1.5 cents per KWh, while the month’s subsidies concerning social residential tariffs (KOT), offered to low-income households, are 5.4 cents per KWh, the overall cost of this support package for the month being 24.4 million euros, energy minister Kostas Skrekas has just announced.

This subsidy outlay, for the month, greatly reduced compared to previous months, has been made possible by lower wholesale electricity prices that enabled retailers to announce, earlier this week, lower tariffs for April.

The government has been providing subsidies throughout the energy crisis to subdue residential tariffs to levels of between 15 and 16 cents per KWh.

Based on recent law, electricity retailers in Greece are required to announce their tariffs for each forthcoming month by the 20th of every preceding month.

The energy minister has also just announced two new subsidy programs for energy efficiency upgrades of buildings. One of the two support programs will be made available to young adults, while the other is the third edition of the “Saving at Home” program.

The government has offered over nine billion euros in subsidies over the past 20 months to support Greek society amid the unprecedented energy crisis, Skrekas, the energy minister, noted.

Seventy percent of these funds have been generated by a windfall tax on excess earnings of electricity companies, as well as CO2 right auctions, minimizing the state budget’s contribution for electricity subsidies, the minister stressed.

“The energy crisis is continuing. We will continue offering support for as long as it takes,” Skrekas said.