Greece offers new round of power bill subsidies for households

ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece announced a new round of power bill subsidies on Friday to help households grappling with rising electricity costs in December.

Greece spent nearly 10 billion euros ($10.58 billion) in power bill subsidies for households and businesses in the 2021-23 period, the biggest amount an EU country has disbursed on such subsidies as a share of its economic output.

Wholesale power prices in Europe climbed to their highest levels in over a year in November. Greece, whose economy is still suffering from the lingering effects of a 2009-2018 debt crisis, had not offered any subsidies this year until the summer, when wholesale power prices spiked again as hot weather curtailed electricity output.

With costs seen rising further in the coming winter months, the energy ministry announced a subsidy of 1.5 cents per kilowatt hour for household consumption up to 500 kilowatt hours for December.

The aid will be offered to about 90% of Greece’s domestic consumers with variable power contracts at a total cost of 20.5 million euros ($21.70 million), the ministry said in a statement.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has blamed the European power market for discrepancies in electricity prices that saw customers in southeastern Europe pay far more than other EU countries.

In a letter to the European Commission in September, he urged the EU to create a bloc-wide energy regulator with powers to inspect energy markets across the EU.

($1 = 0.9448 euros)

(Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Frances Kerry)