There are no exclusion criteria, but income, marital status and any disability determine the order of the approximately 200,000 beneficiaries
By Chrysostomos Tsoufis
Three days are available to those who wish to change some of their household’s energy-consuming appliances with a government subsidy. After the problem observed with the declarations of people with disabilities and chronic diseases, the government was obliged to extend the operation of the platform until Friday July 8th.
The devices to be changed must be functional and their replacement is subsidized by 30% to 50%. The devices must be placed in the home of the interested party, primary or secondary, and not in a business place.
There are no exclusion criteria, but the level of income, marital status and any disability determine the order of the approximately 200,000 beneficiaries as calculated by the Ministry of Energy, as well as the runners-up (in the event that resources are found and the fund is increased). The income criteria are also used to determine the amount of the subsidy, which cannot be less than €135 and more than €710. Beneficiaries will not receive money in their hands, but a digital voucher and the discount will be given at the time of purchase of the devices.
In each application, the 11-digit number of the electricity supply, the number of devices per category that consumers wish to change, the existence or not of disabled persons and the mobile phone number as contact information, if the beneficiary is chosen to be financed by the program, are filled in.
Each application accumulates points according to income, the number of protected members, whether it is a single-parent family and whether there is DISABLED. Once the application is approved, the interested party will receive the voucher(s) on their mobile phone to proceed with the purchase of the devices from a store of their choice, but they must have previously declared that they participate in the program.
Each household can replace up to 3 appliances (up to 2 air conditioners, refrigerators or freezers) and the same household cannot submit 2 applications. The subsidy does not cover any interest arising from a purchase made in installments. Any additional costs such as transportation or installation of the devices are not included in the subsidy.
For the division into income categories, the average annual income of a family (or EIS) is taken into account, which results from dividing the total income of the household by the number of its members. A family of 4 members with an annual income of €40,000 has an average income of €10,000. So
up to €5,000 IN – 50% subsidy
€5,001-€10,000 INV – 45% subsidy
€10,001-€15,000 INV – 40% subsidy
€15,001-€20,000 – 30% subsidy
The power of the device, especially for air conditioners, as well as its price, are also taken into account.
According to the example given by the Ministry of Energy, a beneficiary of the first income category residing in Athens and purchasing a 9,000 Btu/h air conditioner from a local supplier can be subsidized up to the maximum amount of €340.00, which is calculated as follows:
Net amount: €274.19
VAT: €65.81 (24%)
Total: €340.00
Purchases must be made by September 16 and are expected to replace around 380,000 devices. The Ministry of Energy estimates that the annual benefit from energy savings for each participating household can reach up to €300.
View the news feed and get the latest news.
