Greece to review energy firms’ financials for possible windfall profits

ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece will review the financials of its energy firms and tax any windfall profits made from soaring energy prices since last year, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Wednesday.

European gas prices soared to record levels last year and have remained high amid concerns over supply disruptions after Russia – Europe’s top gas supplier – invaded Ukraine.

The European Commission has said that EU countries can tax energy firms’ windfall profits from higher gas prices to raise money and offset higher energy bills.

The government has assigned the country’s energy regulator to look into big energy firms’ financials since October and identify any windfall profits, Mitsotakis told parliament.

“I won’t hesitate, our government will not hesitate…to legislate a one-off levy on any such profits,” Mitsotakis said, adding that revenues will be used to help Greek consumers who have been suffering from soaring energy bills.

Greece has spent more than 2.5 billion euros in subsidising power bills for households, businesses and farmers since last year. It has pledged to provide a further 1.1 billion euros in additional subsidies and a fuel rebate.

Greece imports about 40% of its gas from Russia and also has contracts with Azerbaijan and Algeria. It does not produce any gas itself and any efforts to explore for gas and oil within its territory have stalled in recent years due to the prevailing lower oil prices.

Pointing to a shift in policy, Mitsotakis said that his government will start looking again into potential gas resources off the island of Crete and in the Ionian Sea.

“It’s our foremost obligation … to know what potential reserves exist and if they can be potentially tapped,” Mitsotakis said, adding that more details would be announced in the coming week.

(Reporting by Renee Maltezou and Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)