Targeted electricity subsidies
The government is using the heating subsidy model for electricity subsidies, which from January 2024, and in compliance with European Commission guidelines, should target specific categories of consumers.
The subsidy model to replace the horizontal handout – on which over 9 billion euros have been spent since the start of the energy crisis in 2021 to the present – will be accompanied by measures cracking down on electricity theft and the strategic defaulters, for which a register will be created. These are two scourges of the retail market, to which the accumulated outstanding debts of more than €1.8 billion in retail in 2022 are mostly attributed.
“I would advise them to start cutting their cables,” is the message that Minister of Environment and Energy Theodoros Skylakakis sends through Kathimerini to those who steal electricity, giving an indication of the severity of the administrative measures that he is expected to announce in October.
According to data from the Greek Ombudsman, the cost of electricity theft, which consistent consumers end up paying for, jumped from €209 million in 2021 to €798 million in 2022.
