With the Ukrainian crisis, the prices of gas and electricity are expected to remain at very high levels for some time to come, thus the Greek Government decided to provide additional subsidies to support consumers.
Energy and Finance Ministries estimate that they will be able to secure an additional 3 billion euros from carbon emissions auctions and from the surplus of RES special account. However, given that it is almost certain that this amount will not be enough to support both commercial and residential consumers, contributions from the state budget will also be needed.
Earlier this week, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that in order to deal with the spikes in energy prices, a common European response is necessary, and he said he intends to raise the issue at the next European Council.
In response to energy crisis, EU member states have so far spent more than 23 billion euros to alleviate the energy bills of 71 million residential customers and several million small and medium- sized enterprises.
Even before the crisis in Ukraine escalated, triggering a new rise in energy prices, the EU estimated that energy prices would remain high until 2023 and that they would be a key driver of inflation in 2022.
