Greece extended the financial relief offered to businesses and households due to the rising energy costs on Friday, according to greekreporter.com.
Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced that the government will allocate another 400 million euros ($452 million), covering a significant part of the increases in electricity bills, in January alone.
“For another month the government will support households, farmers, and businesses in the face of the global energy turmoil,” he noted.
“This is a generous and realistic aid plan that helps the present, but does not endanger the future,” he stressed.
“The emphasis is, obviously, on the relief of our households. But we will also help businesses stay on track for growth while maintaining jobs.”
European gas prices have hit record highs amid surging demand for fuel as economies recover from the impact of the pandemic.
In September, Greece offered a power bill subsidy of 9 euros ($10.19) a month for the first 300 hours consumed in the month. That was increased to 18 euros for October, to 39 euros for November and to 50 euros for December.
The total cost of last year’s relief was estimated at 1.35 billion euros. It will be funded by revenues from the country’s carbon emissions trading mechanism.
Mitsotakis promised that the energy financial relief program will be followed with a plan on overall energy savings.
“There will be subsidies for the replacement of old electrical appliances, which will then be recycled. Our goal is for all Greek homes to operate with modern and more economical electrical equipment,” he underlined.
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