Filenews 22 August 2022
The Council of Ministers decided to expand the list of vulnerable groups that are entitled to sponsorship for the installation of photovoltaics and thermal insulation of roofs with eight additional categories, as announced by the Minister of Energy, Commerce and Industry, Natasa Pilides.
With the additional categories, but also with significant improvements in the categories that already existed, the list of vulnerable households is expanding by 30,000, reaching 80,000, according to the Minister.
In addition, the budget of this plan is increased by €40 million, to cover more households, vulnerable or not, in the coming months, announced Ms. Pilides.
The Minister recalled that at the moment €160 million is running. in sponsorship plans by the Ministry of Energy that mainly concern the green transition and entrepreneurship, while at the same time an additional €350 million has been spent by the government on short-term and other measures.
"These additional €40 million will come from the RES-ES fund, where some reserves have been created, given the increase in fuel prices. Therefore, this stock is being used to move towards the green transition, while helping citizens to reduce the cost of electricity," the Minister noted.
The eight categories included in the new list of beneficiaries concern:
Families with an income of up to €19,500 with dependent children up to the age of 18 who receive child benefit, recipients of a mobility allowance for haemodialysis kidney patients from the Department of Social Integration of People with Disabilities, kidney patients with peritoneal dialysis, people suffering from multiple sclerosis, sufferers who are beneficiaries of the special monthly pension from the Fund for the Relief of Patients, people suffering from laryngeal cancer and have undergone laryngectomy, people who have undergone a heart transplant and people suffering from Reino syndrome.
Also, changes were decided in the existing categories, since large and five-member families receiving child benefit are considered to fall, while until now there were some narrower criteria that are now expanding, while the recipients of benefit to pensioners with low incomes no longer need to be over 70 years old to fall.
The Minister recalled that the existing beneficiaries continue to fall under the increased sponsorships, while for the mountainous areas there is an increased subsidy.
"It is the best way to reduce the cost of electricity, so we urge all citizens to look at the plan and make use of it," the Minister said.
