ATHENS – The total amount of the subsidy for electricity in December amounts to 435 million euros, while for natural gas the horizontal subsidy will be 15 euros per thermal megawatt hour, Environment and Energy Minister Kostas Skrekas said on Friday regarding the state subsidies on electricity and natural gas bills for December.

The minister first emphasised that the government is consistently and effectively implementing its policy to deal with the energy crisis, on two fronts: First, by creating alliances and putting pressure on Europe to implement a realistic cap on natural gas, as Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis proposed in March. And secondly by directly subsidising electricity bills to absorb the bulk of the increases.

At Thursday’s extraordinary Council of Energy Ministers, he noted, Greece led a large group of member states that called for a realistic cap on joint EU natural gas purchases, much lower than that proposed by the European Commission. Thus, Europe will be able to reduce the prices of natural gas and consequently electricity.

“It is a difficult battle, which will continue on December 13 at the extraordinary council of energy ministers in Brussels,” the minister underlined. As regards the second pillar of energy policy, he announced the subsidies for December.