The National Ministry of Energy presented a national plan for combating energy poverty and opened a public consultation on it, in July-August this year.
ASPE (the Greek Confederation of Large Families) contributed to this by asking for special provisions on large / multi-child families in Greece, since the cost of energy for these families is much higher due to higher consumption needs as compared to other families.
Apart from this, ASPE requested more energy poverty indicators (apart from those that have to do with income only), adjusted on families and especially on large families, so that the impact of power poverty on families becomes measurable and accountable for. ASPE also suggested the enrichment of the plan with provisions from a positive demographic and family friendly impact perspective.
The issue is a very serious and one contributes largely to increasing poverty risk for large families in Greece and elsewhere in Europe. Special provisions for large families at national level such as lower unit prices, are not against the European legislation, since EU legislation clearly allows member states to define the vulnerable groups according to their own criteria, so that these vulnerable groups can benefit from lower energy price.
Finally, ASPE asked that a representative of the Large Families Confederation be appointed as a permanent member of the National Observatory for Power Poverty that will be established as soon as this plan becomes a binding legal document.
