Greece announces new round of subsidies on household electricity bills
Greece announced on Friday a new round in subsidizing electricity bills to assist households struggling with the rising costs of electricity in December.
Greece spent almost 10 billion euros ($10.58billion) on power bill subsidies to households and businesses between 2021 and 23. This is the largest amount of subsidies that an EU country had ever paid as a percentage of its GDP.
In November, wholesale power prices in Europe reached their highest level in more than a year. Greece's economy, still struggling from the effects of the 2009-2018 debt crises, did not offer any subsidies until this summer when wholesale power prices spiked as the hot weather reduced electricity output.
The energy ministry announced that the cost of electricity will continue to rise in the winter months. For December, households can receive a subsidy up to 500 kilowatt-hours.
The ministry announced that the aid would be provided to 90 percent of domestic Greek consumers who have variable-rate power contracts. It will cost 20.5 million euro ($21.70) in total.
The Greek Prime Minister KyriakosMitsotakis blamed the European Power Market for discrepancies between electricity prices in southeastern Europe and other EU countries.
In a September letter to the European Commission, he called on the EU to establish a bloc-wide regulator of energy with the power to inspect the energy markets throughout the EU. Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou, Editing by Frances Kerry.
(source: Reuters)
