The Lithuanian cabinet decided on January 4 to allocate up to 556.8 million euros of borrowed funds to the Finance Ministry for electricity and natural gas compensations.
Up to 174 million euros will go to subsidising electricity prices for businesses from January through March, and up to 382.8 million euros to partially cover electricity and natural gas bills for household consumers from January through June.
The government’s scheme provides for covering up to 28.5-euro cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity and 99 cents per cubic meter of gas for households in the first half of the year.
The threshold below which the cost of electricity is not subsidised has been set at 28 cents per kWh.
According to the Energy Ministry, subsidising energy bills for households may cost the state an estimated 530 million euros in the first half of the year, depending on consumption. This includes over 330 million euros for electricity and almost 198 million euros for natural gas compensations.
The central government’s 2023 budget earmarks 812 million euros for gas and electricity price subsidies to households for the full year. Finance Minister Gintare Skaiste has said, however, that the actual amount is likely to be lower at around 714 million euros.
Another 220 million euros are earmarked for electricity price subsidies for businesses. (LRT/Business World Magazine)
