2024-07-21 13:23:09
Approximately 3,000 businesses will be asked to pay an average of 200 euros, while there are also cases where the amounts go up, reaching 1,000 euros.
Why have we reached the fiasco of returning government subsidies for electricity? They are asking many small and medium-sized businesses who, in view of the high prices of the kilowatt hour in July, have to pay extra money as refunds, due to the recalculation that was made – with delay – of the state subsidies given during the energy crisis. About 3,000 businesses will be asked to pay an average of 200 euros, while as the representatives of small and medium-sized businesses say, there are cases where the amounts rise, reaching 1,000 euros.
“European legislation works with an elementary principle,” said the Minister, “which says that every company works knowing what money it has received in subsidies and cannot exceed the limits of European legislation. Secondly, when the subsidies were given, we are talking about 800 million euros, the technical possibility to do a real time check on all of them, i.e. to see the exact amount that each company should get at the time the bill is made, does not exist”.
The Minister of Environment and Energy, Th. Skylakakis speaking to Real Fm attributed the problem and the fact that many businesses were caught sleeping, to the bureaucracy, as when the subsidies were given there was no possibility to check the amounts of the subsidies in real time based on the energy they consumed.
According to Mr. Skylakakis “the company is aware of every state aid it receives. In fact, a responsible statement was later requested from companies that they will not exceed the limits, some did not make a statement, the subsidies were closed and then the recalculation took place”.
When asked why, while it was known about the refunds of amounts from December 2023, the KYA came out after the European elections, Mr. Skylakakis answered that “the KYA came out with the way in which the recalculations will be done. In any case, the end of the subsidies took place in December 2023 and the response of the bureaucracy to issue the KYA and for someone to start implementing it takes a few months”. According to the minister, the cases of businesses that are asked to pay are less than those that will get a refund, as about 4,000,000 euros will be given to a large number of businesses, since after the recalculation, it was decided that they should get money back.
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According to the government representative, of the 10 billion in subsidies given during the energy crisis, 5 billion were for businesses, of which 800 million euros were given to businesses with power supplies up to 35 KVA, farmers and bakeries. The recalculation came as a necessity in order to check whether the companies got the amounts they were entitled to, as expressly provided by European legislation.
“This recalculation resulted in the government having to allocate an additional 4.2 million euros to approximately 130,000 businesses and less than 2,200 requesting the return of a total amount of 970,000 euros.
The consumers from whom refunds are requested correspond to 1.7 thousand of the total number of businesses, farmers and bakeries that were supported in total,” said the government representative, adding that “The sums that must be returned by each business are in the vast majority of them amounts up to 200 euros” accusing SYRIZA of populism.
“The official opposition once again, without being informed about the real size of the issue, is in a hurry to magnify it to an inexplicable extent using its favorite tactic of demanding the resignation of ministers by making a cheap opposition.
We continue to turn our backs on the cheap and uninformed populists of SYRIZA and support citizens and businesses with respect for taxpayers’ money and the country’s public finances.”
Source thetoc.gr