Cabinet expands PVs and roof insulation benefits to more groups

The cabinet has expanded 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 on Monday by Energy Minister Natasa Pilides, the additional categories, which includes significant improvements in the categories that already existed, the list of vulnerable households is expanding by 30,000, to reach 80,000 homes.

In addition, the budget for this plan will be increased by €40 million euros, to cover more households, vulnerable or not, in the coming months, Pilides noted.

The minister recalled that at the moment €160 million is running in sponsorship plans by the Energy Ministry that mainly concern green transition and entrepreneurship, while at the same time an additional €350 million have been spent by the government on short-term and other measures.

“This 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 the public to reduce the cost of electricity,” Pilides explained.

The eight categories included in the new list of beneficiaries include 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 hemodialysis kidney patients, kidney patients with peritoneal dialysis and those suffering from multiple sclerosis.

It also includes those individuals who are beneficiaries of the special monthly pension from the Patient Relief Fund, those suffering from laryngeal cancer and have undergone laryngectomy, and individuals who have undergone a heart transplant and those suffering from Raynaud syndrome.

Meanwhile, changes were also decided in the existing categories, since large and five-member families receiving child benefit are considered to fall into the category, while until now there were some narrower criteria that are now expanding.

Additionally, low-income pensioners who receive an extra benefit no longer need to be over 70 years old to fall into this category.

“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 concluded.