The Minister of Health Adonis Georgiadis announced has signed a ministerial decree which provides free electricity on days when smog pollution exceeds safety levels.
This decision affects the DEI customers who have already registered with the power company’s social tariff and will provide two days of free electricity for every one day when the smog pollution exceeds health standards.
With the cost of conventional heating sources such as oil and natural gas increasing beyond the financial capabilities of a huge portion of society, many have turned to wood-burners and fire places, which in turn has lead to the concentration of health-damaging micro-particles in the air soaring.
Mr. Georgiadis explained that the Ministry of Environment will monitor the levels of pollution and after making the relevant announcements, the beneficiaries will see the cost of electricity subtracted from their bills. The Minister neglected to mention at what point of pollution the decree for free electricity will come into effect.
The likeliest scenario is that the “free electricity” decree will come into effect when the smog pollution readings exceed 150µg of particles per cubic meter of air. Indicatively, the smog pollution in Attica over the past weekend measured 100µg per cubic meter on average.
