PM Mitsotakis: Greek households to get a 60% rebate on Mitsotakis under four-stage plan

The government will rebate 60% of the price hikes on energy bills to Greek households, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Thursday, announcing the first of a four-part plan meant to relieve pressure due to energy costs.

"The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the continuing war there has affected the entire world," the Greek leader said, "Europe and our country. And it is carried out not in terms of missiles and bombs alone, but through the weapons of energy and the price of natural gas, which has climbed to unprecedented heights." The government's initiative was prompted, he said, by the delay in the European Union's response to the energy cost issue.

Mitsotakis said the focus will be both on vulnerable households and the middle class under the new National Support Plan, which will include the following four stages:

- The return to owners and renters of 60% of the additional cost on household bills paid from December 2021 to May 2022, through bank accounts. This will cap at 600 euros, and potential beneficiaries must have annual salaries of 45,000 euros or less. Additionally, any increase in consumption above 300 KWh will be covered by 50% for May and June bills.

- Electricity producing businesses will be asked to provide a dividend of solidarity to society, which is suffering by the high prices. "Based on the final report of the Regulatory Authority for Energy, expected shortly, their additional revenues due to the current developments will be taxed with a special fee of 90%," Mitsotakis said.

- Independent of EU decisions, the Greek government will initiate a system as of July that will disconnect the international price hikes of natural gas from the electricity bills in Greece. This plan will have a one-year horizon.

 - Saving energy will also be encouraged among citizens and businesses, through such programs to start shortly as "I recycle/Change appliances" (providing a subsidy for withdrawing old appliances with high energy consumption such as air conditioners and fridges), "I save money" (an ongoing program subsidizing energy upgrades at homes), and a new similar program for businesses (allowing installation of solar panels on their roofs).

"In other words," Mitsotakis said, "through a double state intervention in wholesale and retail energy markets, we are setting an indirect cap on pricing and at the same time stabilizing the prices reaching consumers. In this way, the adjustment clause is essentially suspended, and the excessive profits of energy companies are stopped."

The premier expressed the hope that Greece would be able to secure EU funding, in order to reduce the burden on the state budget, "but I will not wait until the slow-moving European ocean liner changes direction," he added.