For the Greek Public Power Company (DEH) and the Regulatory Authority for Energy (RAE) the solution is simple: it will get 100million euros either from the state budget or from the power consumers. The amount comes together from a 50% refund of the special consumption tax (SCT) in the fuel that is used to produce electricity for the Greek islands.
Taxpayers will pay the 100 million either way: either indirect via the state budget or with an increase in electricity bills that could be up to 20%.
The RAE has submitted a proposal for the return of the SCT to Minister of Environment Giorgos Stathakis. In its Plan B, for the case the ministry will not pay the amount, the RAE has prepared a list of price increases that will affect all domestic consumers, including those whose consumption is up to 2,400 kilowatts and who are the large category of PPC customers..
According to media sources, the RAE proposal foresees following price increases:
8 euro per kWh and 10 euro per megakWh for consumption 0-1,600 kWh
55 euros for consumption 1,600-2,400 kWh; now is 45 euros
80 euros for consumption over 2,400 kWh
This translates into an increase of 22% to 25% on each electricity bill.
In order to avoid double and triple electricity cost for the residents on the Greek islands, the state relocates the cost to all electricity bills. the result is that citizens are burdened with unbearable electricity bills.
The total amount the PPC wants to retrieve is some 360 million euros for expenses of the last five years, when the special consumption tax was imposed on the fuel oil.
The state and the PPC/RAE are reportedly seeking solutions to the problem, I think I read somewhere on the internet that the final decision is expected in September.
PS I have calculated that I pay an extra 20%-25% of my electricity bill for the islanders who zealously evade taxes each and every touristic year as I hear and read this summer too. On second thought, it is high time I join the long line of “mean Greeks” as well.
Yes its ridiculous. On my bill it says 0.075 EUR /kwh which is only for the Electricity company I use, but then there are like 10 other ‘regulated’ charges by the government depending on consumption! Madness!
It looks like the more the people who don’t pay their bills, the more the prices will go up!
It works the same way for general purchases as well, the more people the tax evade, the more everyone has to pay.
On the one hand, yes the idea of subsidizing the expensive electricity on the islands is , like ALL other government subsidies meant to distort the reality of the cost of things, a terrible idea and should be abolished right now. And i say this as someone living on an island. Subsidizing things to hide their true cost always leads to bad decisions, waste, and ruin.
On the other hand, “islanders who zealously evade taxes” , where do you get this from? As someone living on an island and getting a royal #@!#ing by the tax man and who does follow all their horrific rules and pays all their taxes, i have to reply with a polite ‘@!#@! you’, this is itself part of the reason why the people have still not gotten together to resist this monster- the attitude that oh those (islanders, small businessmen, farmers, basically anyone else but me) is a thieving miscreant ‘evading taxes’ … how about instead turning it around and realizing that we’re all citizens getting raped by the monster and there is nothing just or right in those taxes, which by the way we DO pay thank you very much, not because it’s right to pay but because they send cops around to do violence on those who dont pay. Zero sympathy or tolerance for the state’s bottomless pit that consumes everything! Give them the whole world and they’d still want more.
I always said this, Mykonos should declare independence and manage its own affairs. With the cash they get, they can build their own power station!