The government is make adjustments and finalizing the details of its heating benefit, which is scheduled to come into effect in less than a week. On the 15th of October heating oil will go on sale for an average 1.3 euros per liter and the Ministry of Finances is working out how income and asset criteria will affect the benefit.
The latest rumors suggest that the government benefit will come to 35 cents per liter of heating oil, however a minor reduction in taxes could bring it to 34 cents, compared to 28 cents during last winter. While the Ministry’s goal is to make the benefit available to a greater number of people, it has yet to determine how it is going to make it available in the first place.
The first plan involves the advance payment of part of the benefit, with the rest paid upon submission of the relevant invoices. This is favored by deputy Minister Mavraganis, since it ensures that the benefit is used for oil, rather than other forms heating (electricity, natural gas, wood, pellets etc). The second plan involves taxpayers buying the heating oil before submitting an online application for the benefit with invoices on the infamous TAXIS network.
Despite the benefit being implemented last year, the Ministry of Finances revealed that the equation of the price of heating oil and diesel (which was meant to tackle fuel smuggling) and saw the price of heating oil soar, resulted in a dramatic 70% drop in consumption of heating oil.
The relative inefficiency of the heating benefit prompted 26 New Democracy MPs to complain to the Minister of Finances Stournaras and demand cheaper heating oil prices. The MPs claimed that the heating benefit “was a failure”, just like the equation of the prices of heating oil and diesel which “failed to increase public revenue on top of further burdening family budgets”. The 26 MPs also pointed out “serious injustices” in the current benefit plan and that it caused a huge natural destruction by encouraging illegal logging. In response to the many problems of the heating benefit, the Federation of Fuel Station Owners (OVE) and its 44 unions announced that they will abstain from the heating oil trade.
