Households that achieve reduced consumption will be rewarded with increased subsidies electricity on the order of 10%, while similar incentives are also being considered for businesses.

The Minister for the Environment and Energy mentioned this measure yesterday Kostas Skrekas during his speech at extraordinary council of energy ministers, further coverage of savings plans. While full planning for this measure has yet to be completed, it is safe to say that the government is beginning to phase out the horizontal subsidies it has applied in previous months as the crisis deepens and fiscal space for support runs out.

Subsidizing the industry will be combined with related benefits, while the ministry will consider the possibility of providing long-term release of goods for compensation to be determined at auctions. This is a proposal presented by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to the President of the EU. Ursula von der Leyen to Vice President Frans Timmermans and Energy Commissioner Country Simson in July.

The government is phasing out horizontal subsidies as fiscal space runs out.

Mr. Skrekas also presented to the Council of Ministers the excess revenue recovery mechanism that has been implemented in our country since July 7 and which, according to the statement of the Ministry of Environment and Energy, has been widely accepted by Member States. “The Greek mechanism is interesting and works well,” Commissioner Kadri Simson said to Mr. Skrekas. The Minister pointed to a decrease in demand natural gas and electricity, which Greece has achieved in recent months, but has asked that any relevant proposal from the European Commission be balanced so that it does not affect the functioning of the economy. During his presentation, Mr. Skrekas noted that Greece has already reached the goal of reducing natural gas consumption by 15% thanks to a significant increase in renewable energy in our energy mix, which will add more than 1,700 MW this year, and added that the production of electricity from brown coal doubled from 10% to 20%. He also announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with his Italian counterpart on the storage of 1.5 TWh of natural gas in Italy, which can be transferred to Greece by reverse flow.

Meanwhile, yesterday in Brussels at an extraordinary meeting of European energy ministers, little progress was made, as no agreement was reached on the introduction of a horizontal ceiling on wholesale prices for natural gas.

During the meeting, 15 member states proposed to introduce a horizontal ceiling – in the same direction as the Greek proposal – including Italy and Germany under certain conditions. Italian Environment Minister Roberto Cingolani said that the three states are in favor of limiting the supply of Russian gas only. The Committee presented a preliminary assessment of possible emergency measures to curb the rise in prices for electricity and natural gas.

The ministers called for immediate action to limit the income of low-cost electricity producers, for a coordinated reduction in electricity demand across the EU. and addressing the issue of reduced liquidity, as well as a possible ceiling on natural gas prices, he stressed.