A clear commitment with specific amounts for reducing energy costs is what industry expects to hear today from the Prime Minister, who is speaking at the General Assembly of SEV, amid one of the worst crises of recent years, with energy exchanges in the "red" and while countries are taking new measures one after another.
At such a juncture, where the finalization of the package for industry is said to have almost been "locked in" and information points to an amount slightly below or slightly above 100 million euros, the business world expects that Mitsotakis’ signal for reducing energy costs will be accompanied by tangible measures, and that what happened last year will not be repeated.
Then, despite the expectations that had been cultivated for specific announcements by the Prime Minister at the General Assembly of SEV, these were ultimately postponed to a later time.
According to estimates, today’s announcements will focus on the government’s decision to place Greece in the club of countries, where Germany, Bulgaria, Ireland, Poland and Austria are already included, and which are already making use of the current European framework of state aid for subsidizing from 50% up to 70% of the price of industrial electricity.
The signal had been hastily sent last week by the political leadership of the Ministry of Environment and Energy during the meeting with the leadership of SEV, implying that the package is moving toward finalization and that the final figures will depend on the country’s fiscal capabilities.
Retroactive coverage, different by category
As for the substance of the package, the central direction, as Euro2day.gr has written, is for the electricity price to be subsidized retroactively for the entire industry, making use of the European CISAF (Clean Industrial Deal State Aid Framework) and METSAF (Middle East Crisis Temporary State Aid Framework) tools, which cover 50% of the beneficiary’s annual consumption.
The first subsidizes up to 50% of the average wholesale electricity price, while the second raises the percentage up to 70%.
According always to the plan, the element of retroactivity will apply both to the large industries that are already supported through compensation for CO2 costs, as well as to the medium-sized or smaller ones that currently have no support “umbrella” at all and, with the joint letter of 16 associations and bodies a few weeks ago, urgently raised the issue with the government, exerting significant pressure.
The plan provides that the coverage will not concern the same time period for the two categories.
In the category of small industries, which includes those absolutely exposed to the energy crisis, the direction is for beneficiaries to be subsidized retroactively for the whole of 2026. It was judged that, having gone so many years without the slightest support, these businesses need a longer coverage period. This specific group includes hundreds of small and medium-sized enterprises with total annual consumption of 1-1.5 TWh and with EVIKEN speaking of 600 supply points.
In the category of the larger ones, which concern 70 meters and already receive compensation for CO2 costs, the direction is for them to be subsidized retroactively but from July 2026 onward, when the large increases in the wholesale electricity price began. The duration of the support will in this case as well be until December 2026 and the subsidy will always concern 50% of annual consumption.
This category represents the lion’s share of total industrial consumption, namely 6.5-7 Terawatt-hours per year. In the case of the large ones, the subsidy will come through the newer tool, which entered into force in April, METSAF, therefore the percentage reduction in the electricity price can reach up to 70%.
The new Italian Energy Release 2.0
European momentum for industry support measures is reinforced by yesterday’s announcement by the Meloni government that it is going to activate a new version of the Italian model “Energy Release 2.0”, for the Greek version of which the government had applied to the Commission around this time last year, though without success.
According to the first version of “Energy Release 2.0” industries enjoy a charge of 65 euros/MWh for the first three years, that is, much lower than the average Italian spot price of 146.42 €/MWh recorded so far in 2026.
If market prices exceed 65 €/MWh, the government covers the difference. In return, the plan required participants to make new RES investments within 40 months and to repay the energy they received over a period of 20 years.
Now, the government in Rome intends to allocate 14 billion euros from the fiscal space it has secured from the Commission, in order to invest in a new version of Energy Release, which will also aim at strengthening hydroelectric energy and biomethane.