Electricity will be cheaper for flood-hit households
Ljubljana, 16 August - All flooded households will be able to buy electricity at 0.1 cent per kilowatt hour or a euro per megawatt hour from August until the end of the year under an emergency measure devised by the Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Energy in cooperation with electricity suppliers. This means the average electricity bill will be almost 60% lower.
Ljubljana
Environment, Climate and Energy Minister Bojan Kumer.
Photo: Nebojša Tejić/STA
File photo
Minister Bojan Kumer told the press on Wednesday that according to preliminary estimates between 4,000 and 7,000 households would be eligible for the scheme.
If 5,000 households were included in the scheme, it would cost about EUR 1.5 million. This will be a donation from the electricity suppliers, so the state will bear no costs.
Thus, a monthly electricity bill for an average Slovenian electricity consumer would be EUR 40 or almost 60% lower. The goal is for the new measure to enter into force within 14 days, the minister said.
"This is a measure we have designed together with all electricity suppliers. Flood-hit households are consuming more electricity due to the intensive use of pumps, dehumidifiers and other appliances," Kumer explained.
He added that this would not be the only measure taken by the ministry. Together with the Civil Protection, faster emergency teams have been set up to restore power and electricity supply, and several other measures are being drafted for an emergency law that will help the most affected and vulnerable households.
Representatives of electricity suppliers said they were happy to see great solidarity among people and businesses in the face of the devastating floods.
The head of the electricity suppliers' section at the the Energy Industry Chamber and CEO of the company ECE, Sebastijan Roudi, said this was a systemic measure that is good and efficient as well as fair and equal for all stakeholders in the energy sector.
Chairman of the energy trader Gen-I Maks Helbl said measures to help those who have been most affected by the floods were essential, so that they have at least minimal conditions for repairing the damage. There can be no green transformation or sustainable future without care for the community.
Jože Smolič, a board member of the energy company Petrol, welcomed the initiative. Petrol is striving to make the lives of Slovenians as easy as possible, he said, expressing regret that some of their filling stations are still closed.