Greece gears up for tough winter

ATHENS, 29 Aug – PRIME. Greece, together with Europe, is intensively preparing for a difficult winter, energy consumption has decreased by more than 11%, Greek government spokesman Yiannis Ikonomou said at a briefing.

“The whole of Europe is going through an extremely difficult and uncertain period. The developments related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, especially in relation to the flows, as well as the prices of natural gas, are fraught with serious difficulties for both the economy and households, as well as for enterprises in all European countries. Some countries may suffer more, but the consequences will be severe for all European countries,” Ikonomou said.

According to him, natural gas deliveries via the Russian gas pipeline to Europe have already fallen by about 75% this year, and prices have exceeded 320 euros per MWh, that is, more than 10 times more expensive than in the past.

“Already, all countries in Europe are embarking on emergency measures to ensure enough energy for the winter. In Germany, the government has already approved two packages of measures. In France, President Macron has warned citizens about serious shocks when an era of abundance and access to raw materials and products that seemed to affordable has run out and sacrifices will be required in the coming months. Spain has announced measures to reduce energy consumption in public buildings, shopping malls, airports and train stations,” Iconomou listed the European measures.

“In our country, measures are also being taken to reduce consumption by both the public and private sectors, and already in June and July there was a significant reduction in consumption, in July it exceeded 11%,” a government spokesman said.

According to him, the Greek government has long begun to prepare for any development of events and, with the help of the necessary preventive measures, is trying to slow down the spread of the crisis, just like during a pandemic.

“The capacity of the Revitus LNG station has been doubled with a new floating tank that can accommodate two ships at the same time. Electricity production from lignite has doubled, and oil can be used in five power plants that are currently running on natural gas,” Ikonomou said.

He assured that the government continues and will continue, while the energy crisis lasts, to support households and small and medium-sized businesses, support the entire society, covering the maximum part of the increase in electricity.

“For September, 1.9 billion euros have been allocated, of which 1.1 billion euros are accounted for by the surplus of income of the Energy Transition Fund and 800 million euros for the state budget. This covers 100% of the increase in electricity at social tariffs, 94% at all other tariffs for the population , 89% for small and medium enterprises and 90% for tariffs in agriculture,” he said.

Iconomou said the Greek authorities would never, under any circumstances, allow themselves to face a fiscal crash again.

“Announcements of the measures to be implemented in the next period will be made by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in his speech at the International Exhibition in Thessaloniki (September 10). Our commitment was and remains to use every last available euro to support the Greek society, especially the economically weak and middle class without damaging the country’s financial balance,” Ikonomou said. -0-