The country is preparing for winter, said the Minister of Energy and Ecology Kostas Skrekaswho assured that “the government will not leave households in the cold”.

“We have doubled the capacity of the Revitoussa with a new floating tank, we have doubled the power generation from lignite, and we have the ability to use oil in five natural gas plants,” he explained.

However, Mr. Skrekas stressed that energy saving should be included in our daily lives, as in Germany and Italy.

In the first two months of summer, we had positive samples with a significant decrease in consumption. “In July, the reduction in consumption exceeded 15% in one month,” he said.

“The whole of Europe is worried and worried about the coming months. It looks like we’re in for a very difficult winter due to Russia’s strategy of choking off Europe’s energy supply by reducing gas flows and raising prices. Our government saw the problem from the very beginning and created a safety net for residential consumers and small and medium businesses,” the minister said in a statement to SKAI.

New business financing instruments are being considered

At the same time, speaking about electricity bills, he reiterated that the government’s obligation is to absorb at least 80% of the increase in energy for as long as necessary. “We are absorbing 89% of the increase for September in small restaurants and shops, hairdressers, convenience stores. In larger companies, we absorb from 50 to 55% of the increase, and part of the increase is deducted from income tax,” he said.

Mr. Skrekas specified that “we are considering new financial instruments in addition to subsidies for medium and large companies to support them from rising energy prices”.

“In September alone, we will subsidize households with 1.1 billion euros for just one month. This is the largest subsidy that has probably ever been given,” the minister said.

Finally, the minister recalled that the government forced providers to pay net fees. “The RAE has a table on its website comparing provider prices, and under government law, a consumer can change providers for free if they have paid a previous bill,” he said.

He calculated that the price difference between suppliers does not exceed 20%, and gave an example: in September, an average household with 400 kilowatts will pay almost 350 euros for electricity alone, after the state subsidy the amount payable is reduced to 60 euros.