Veera Nikoskelainen and Eeva Kotamäki, who are struggling with large electricity bills, welcome the government’s preparation of a new electricity subsidy with joy. However, the unclear practical effects of the support still raise questions.
Prime minister Sanna Marin (sd) said on Monday that the government is preparing a one-time compensation for households, with which, for example, expensive electricity bills from November to December could be retroactively compensated.
The compensation sounds better than previously announced forms of support, such as the household reduction of electricity and the electricity subsidy paid by Kela, says a resident of Liedo Veera Nikoskelainen.
“The problem is that the bills will be paid anyway. The money would be needed earlier. A tax reduction doesn’t help in times of need when people are already having trouble paying,” says Nikoskelainen.
The one-time compensation presented by the government, on the other hand, might bring relief faster, Nikoskelainen thinks. He is satisfied with that.
“That would give you concrete help pretty quickly.”
Officials of the Ministry of Labor and the Economy Riku Huttunen and Tatu Pahkala estimate that, according to the current estimate, the lump sum will be paid in March.
The one-off compensation is to appear automatically in consumers’ electricity bills. So that would reduce the bills for March. Politicians in the government hope that by speeding up the process, the one-time compensation could be paid already in February.
Read more: This kind of electricity support for consumers will
Lump sum payment however, there is still a lot of uncertainty regarding the practical implementation. It also worries the people of Nikoske.
“It is not yet known what kind of sums are being talked about. It is completely open what kind of refunds are in store.”
The refund is based on November and December electricity bills. The larger bills you have paid, the bigger refund you will get retroactively on your March bill.
So far, it has not been decided how much of the two months’ bills the state will refund. According to preliminary calculations, 50–80 percent of the invoices will be refunded. However, the deductible could reduce the refund.
“It’s a bit special that the support is directed at future electricity bills. Is it somehow divided into different bills, or is only March’s electricity bill smaller?” Nikoskelainen thinks.
“Help is needed and it’s nice that it will come, but the practical implementation is still unclear.”
from Nikoske it hurts that, both when discussing high electricity prices and when planning different forms of support, it seems to have been forgotten how different the situation is for single parents and those who live alone compared to other households.
She herself is a single parent of three children. In addition to the price of electricity, interest rates on loans have risen, and because of inflation, even food alone costs more money than before.
In a household of one adult, exactly one person is responsible for paying and bills cannot be split.
“Fortunately, I have a relatively good income, but the fact is that I cannot repay the loans. The installments must be left unpaid and only the mandatory interest must be paid. When the electricity bill multiplies, there is not enough money”, Nikoskelainen.
Nikoskelainen says that his electricity bills have recently been around 600 euros per month, plus electricity transmission. He expects that the bills will be even higher at the beginning of the year if the weather is cold.
Nikoskelainen says that he has reduced electricity consumption by 20 percent from the previous year. Most of the electricity is used to heat the house. Nikoskelainen doesn’t give up on that.
“It is important to me that the children have a good home. I can’t even think that we would live in a 12-degree house,” he says.
from Naantali Eeva Kotamäki electricity bills have multiplied from what they used to be.
“The winter months have been expensive in the past, but now they are terribly expensive,” he says.
Kotamäki is cautiously positive about the lump sum prepared by the government, even though its details are still open.
“I guess that’s a bit crude as a plan too, but what is clear about the support sounded reasonably good,” says Kotamäki.
Kotamäki thinks that the one-time compensation would also encourage saving electricity better than, for example, the price ceiling that is being prepared.
“On the other hand, the price ceiling could be equitable,” says Kotamäki.
Read more: The electricity price ceiling introduced in Finland would be “dangerous” at worst – this is what the ceiling would mean
Kotamäki says that he himself can’t even afford to save on consumption anymore.
“I have been taking cost-saving measures for a long time. The lights have been turned off and the sauna hasn’t heated up for quite some time,” he says.
Measures to support citizens struggling with large electricity bills are necessary in Kotaniemi’s opinion. However, he is concerned about how citizens could be supported in a way that does not burden the Finnish economy.
“The debt situation is catastrophic. We should find ways to avoid the need for debt.”
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