New measures announced yesterday by the Prime Minister to deal with high electricity prices, will absorb 70% to 80% of the increase in the price per kilowatt-hour for households,

New measures announced yesterday by the Prime Minister to deal with high electricity prices

were specialized by the competent ministers. This is a package of four interventions that will absorb 70% to 80% of the increase in the price per kilowatt-hour for households, businesses, and farmers. The package of measures is for the next 12 months and includes, among other things, the return of 60% of the additional charges on the electricity bill from December to May, up to 600 euros.

From July, a double intervention in both the wholesale and the retail energy market will be implemented, setting an indirect ceiling in the retail market and stabilizing the retail prices for the next 6-12 months. Thus, for the duration of the energy crisis, the Adjustment Clause is suspended and the current revenues of the energy companies are cut.

Subsidies on accounts

"In May and June, subsidies on electricity and gas bills on household and business bills will continue," said Environment and Energy Minister Costas Skrekas, adding that the subsidy applies to all homes, main and non-main, without income. criteria and for total consumption.

Particularly:

In the main houses, for the first 300 kWh, 86% of the increase in electricity costs is absorbed, as the average aid will amount to 56.6 euros per month.

For the first 150 kWh, the subsidy is set at 205 euros / MWh.

For monthly consumption from 151 to 300 kWh to 160 euros / MWh.

For the total consumption of over 300 kWh per month, the amount of the subsidy amounts to 100 euros / MWh.

For all non-main residences, the total consumption is subsidized by 100 euros / MWh in order to absorb 50% of the increase.

For the beneficiaries of the Social Household Tariff, the subsidy will amount to 215 euros / MWh for the total consumption, with the aim of absorbing 100% of the increases.

The total amount of the subsidy for household consumers in May will be 200 million euros. The June grant will be announced at the end of May.

Examples for the month of May

Household tariff with consumption of 300 kWh per month. Without a subsidy, he would pay 100 euros for electricity and with a subsidy of 43.5 euros - a 56.5% discount on the energy bill.

Household tariff with consumption of 400 kWh per month. Without subsidy, he would pay 129.2 euros, and with the subsidy 63.6 euros - 51% discount.

For consumption of 600 kWh, consumers will pay with the subsidy of 108.2 euros while without a subsidy they would pay 193.8 euros - 44% discount.

Subsidy on professional invoices

For business consumers, the unit price of the subsidy is set at 120 / MWh in May for total consumption.

In addition, for small and medium-sized enterprises with power supply up to 35kVA and for all bakeries regardless of power supply, we increase the total consumption with an additional subsidy of 50 euros / MWh. So the total unit subsidy amounts to 170 for May.

This measure subsidizes 80% of the adjustment clause. It concerns 1,250,000 million professional services of companies such as restaurants, shops, kiosks, haberdashery, hairdressers, offices, and bakeries and is estimated at 35 million euros for April.

In total, in May the total subsidy for professional invoices amounts to 260 million euros.

For natural gas, the state subsidy to households will amount to 20 euros per thermal MWh in May for all households and for the total monthly consumption. At the same time, DEPA Commerce continues to offer a discount for the same period of 20 euros per thermal MWh.

The subsidy of gas bills for non-household tariffs continues for the next two months and for all commercial and industrial consumers regardless of size, turnover, and number of employees. The subsidy will amount to 20 euros per thermal MWh for the total monthly consumption. The total amount of the subsidy from the Government for household and professional gas consumers will amount to 20 million euros in May.

What will take effect from July

"From July 1, we are proceeding with a drastic institutional intervention in the energy market. "Specifically, we are implementing a new compensation mechanism for power plants based on their actual operating costs and thus are disconnected from the wholesale energy price that is still affected by the international gas price," said Mr. Skrekas.

In this way, we recover the plus

all of the surplus revenues of electricity producers and the special account of RES, which for the next half is estimated at 1.630 billion euros, he added. In total, together with the subsidies from the Budget and the Energy Transition Fund, in the next six months, the total financial support for the electricity bills will approach 3.2 billion euros.

"Also, since with the measures we take we stabilize and disconnect the wholesale purchase price from the limit value of the system, with a ministerial decision we suspend the adjustment clause for the entire period of operation of the new mechanism", the minister also added, adding that Preliminary discussions on institutional change with the European Commission's Director-General for Energy have already begun and a notification of the new institutional intervention will be formally sent next week.

In total, according to the Minister of Energy, the new measures absorb:

In the Vulnerable (CTO) about 500,000 households: 100% of the increase.

In all Household bills (all dwellings): absorption up to 85% of the increase.

In 1,250,000 small and medium enterprises, 82% of the increase.

90-95% of the increase to farmers and agricultural tariffs.

The cost of measures

The total cost of consumer support measures announced yesterday by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will reach 3.2 billion euros by the end of 2022, said today the Minister of Finance, Christos Staikouras. Of this, 1.2 billion euros will be borne by the state budget and the rest will come from the resources of the Energy Transition Fund in combination with the special 90% fee that will be imposed on the current profits of energy companies. This burden is part of the Finance Ministry's estimates contained in the Revised Stability Program, which was submitted to the EU last week.

Analyzing the measures, the Minister of Finance, Mr. Staikouras, noted that the electricity subsidies for May and June are expanding. Consumables over 300 kilowatt-hours are subsidized for the first time. The cost is estimated at 900m euros. and will be covered by the resources of the Energy Transition Fund in conjunction with the special fee of 90% on the profits of energy companies

Second, in June, 60% of the increase in subsidized for all accounts from December 2021 to May 2022. It concerns consumers who have not been covered by the discounts. The subsidy on IBAN accounts. Income up to 45,000 euros. It can not exceed 600 euros per consumer. The cost of the new intervention with a direct amount in the accounts is 280 million euros and will be covered by the budget

Subsidized diesel for May and June at 15 cents per liter at a cost of 45 million euros and will be covered by the budget

The discount mechanism is strengthened horizontally and a mechanism for absorbing the extra income is introduced. Aim to keep prices stable at older levels. Retail prices will be stable regardless of the evolution price of natural gas. Social tariffs and all businesses will be generously subsidized. The cost is estimated at 2 billion euros in the second half of the year, the cost to the budget of 800 million euros for the rest of the energy transition resources through the mechanism.

The return from 18 to 600 euros

The measure of return concerns the months of issuance of the bills and not the period of consumption, clarified the Deputy Minister of Finance, Theodoros Skylakakis. It concerns households with a family income of up to 45,000 years, the return is given to those who have an increase of more than 30 euros during these months, the minimum return is 18 euros and the maximum is 600 euros. A prerequisite is the submission of an application on a platform that will be created.

It will be possible to update the main residence, and the details of the electricity bills from each clock will be drawn from the electricity providers. The return is calculated based on co-ownership and use. At 750 million euros the subsidy to households to date, while consumers have shouldered 464 million euros. Order of size 280 million euros. "The support package will also positively affect inflation, we expect a reduction of the half to one unit," said Mr. Skylakakis.

How to enter the ceiling from July

The new mechanism will take effect from July and for a period of one year. The mechanism announced yesterday by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will work as follows:

There will be a ceiling on retail invoices for each category (household, commercial, industrial, etc.) starting from 145 to