Greece today: the heating allowance decision is out, the electricity bill reaches Parliament, and the €2 parcel fee starts

Heating allowance 2026–27: the decision is published, and applications close on 4 December 2026

Greece's heating allowance rules for winter 2026–27 are now official. Joint ministerial decision (κοινή υπουργική απόφαση, koini ypourgiki apofasi, ΚΥΑ) Α.1230/2026 of the finance and energy ministers was published in the Government Gazette (ΦΕΚ, Φύλλο Εφημερίδας της Κυβερνήσεως, Fyllo Efimeridas tis Kyverniseos) on 30 October 2026, in issue Β' 6569.¹ Applications go through myAADE, the online portal of ΑΑΔΕ (Ανεξάρτητη Αρχή Δημοσίων Εσόδων, Anexartiti Archi Dimosion Esodon), the tax authority, until 4 December 2026 inclusive.¹ We found no opening date for the application platform in the decision; ERT and iefimerida report that it is expected to open by 10 November 2026.¹²³

The calculated allowance rises by 30% this winter, with ceilings of €1,040, €1,300 or €1,560 depending on the local weather coefficient.¹ΕΛ¹ The €100 minimum is applied after the 30% rise and is not itself raised, so wherever the calculated amount is still below €100 after the rise, the household gets €100.¹ΕΛ By our calculation, a childless household heating with oil stays at the €100 floor wherever its weather coefficient is below about 0.256 (€100 ÷ (€300 × 1.3), that is €100 ÷ €390).¹ The 2026–27 coefficients will be estimated by the National Meteorological Service (Εθνική Μετεωρολογική Υπηρεσία, Ethniki Meteorologiki Ypiresia) and published in a later decision, so no one can yet say which areas get no rise.¹

The advance is due by 23 December 2026.¹ Returning claimants get an advance of 60% of what they were paid for winter 2025–26, increased by 30%, up to a cap based on their area's climatic coefficient, and at least €80.¹ Before the application can be finalised, the claimant must declare on myAADE an IBAN of which they are the holder or a joint holder.¹ΕΛ Our heating allowance guide has the full rules, the income limits and every payment date.

Declare your IBAN on myAADE first: the decision does not let a heating allowance application be finalised without one.¹

Electricity bill: tabled in Parliament on 31 October 2026, with the ΥΚΩ cut and a data-centre fee

The Environment and Energy Ministry (ΥΠΕΝ, Υπουργείο Περιβάλλοντος και Ενέργειας, Ypourgeio Perivallontos kai Energeias) tabled its electricity-market bill in the Hellenic Parliament (Βουλή των Ελλήνων, Vouli ton Ellinon) on Saturday 31 October 2026.⁴⁶ The bill transposes EU Directive 2024/1711 and has 90 articles.⁴⁵ Its reading starts on Tuesday in the Standing Committee on Production and Trade (Διαρκής Επιτροπή Παραγωγής και Εμπορίου, Diarkis Epitropi Paragogis kai Emporiou), which by our calculation is Tuesday 3 November 2026.⁶⁴ It is a bill, not yet law.⁴

• ΥΚΩ charges: article 57 sets the first-band household charge for ΥΚΩ (Υπηρεσίες Κοινής Ωφέλειας, Ypiresies Koinis Ofeleias), the public-service charges on every bill, at €3.45 per MWh from 1 January 2027.⁵⁸ CNN Greece reports that this is down from €6.90 per MWh, and the ministry calls it a 50% cut.⁸⁷
• Fixed-price contracts: under article 7, suppliers "may" (δύνανται) offer fixed-term, fixed-price contracts.⁵ Every customer can ask for a fixed-price contract of at least one year from at least one supplier and from every supplier with more than 200,000 customers.⁵ The ministry's release describes this as a supplier "obligation".⁷
• Data centres: article 27 adds a special annual fee of €15,000 per MW of maximum consumption capacity, paid for the benefit of consumers and of the municipalities where data centres are installed.⁵ΕΛ⁵ The ministry also lists full connection costs for investors, at least 60% of annual consumption from renewables and a €200,000-per-MW guarantee.⁷
• Karaiskakis stadium: articles 83 and 84 set rules for modernising the «Γ. Καραϊσκάκης» stadium and grant its use by concession.⁵ The ministry says the concession runs for 49 years and capacity would rise from an estimated 33,500 to 52,000 seats.⁷

Our explainers on the ΥΚΩ cut and fixed-price contracts and on the data-centre grid rules explain what the bill would change.

Parcels from outside the EU: the €2 handling fee applies from today

From Sunday 1 November 2026, goods bought online from outside the EU carry the EU's Union Handling Fee of €2 per item, under ΑΑΔΕ circular Ε.2067/2026; ΑΑΔΕ's release counts it «ανά είδος αγαθού» (per kind of goods, in our translation), not per parcel.⁹¹⁰ Our guide to the €2 parcel fee explains how it works.

Is Greek inflation at 5% in October? No: that is September's figure

A Pagenews headline published at 23:02 on 31 October 2026, «ΕΛΣΤΑΤ: Αλμα του πληθωρισμού στο 5%» (ELSTAT: inflation jumps to 5%), gives no month, but its text is about September.¹¹ Apart from an added opening paragraph, it repeats, word for word by our comparison, a Protagon story of 9 October 2026.¹¹¹² ΕΛΣΤΑΤ (Ελληνική Στατιστική Αρχή, Elliniki Statistiki Archi), the Hellenic Statistical Authority, put the national consumer price index (CPI) up 5.0% in September 2026 on a year earlier.¹³¹² The EU-harmonised index (HICP) for Greece rose 5.1% in September 2026, according to Eurostat, the EU's statistics office.¹⁴

No October 2026 figure exists yet. Eurostat's flash estimate for October is due on 4 November 2026, and ELSTAT publishes its October CPI and HICP on 10 November 2026.¹⁴¹⁵ Our September inflation explainer sets out the two indices.

Working pensioners: Capital.gr says e-ΕΦΚΑ is paying increases faster

e-ΕΦΚΑ (Ηλεκτρονικός Εθνικός Φορέας Κοινωνικής Ασφάλισης, Ilektronikos Ethnikos Foreas Koinonikis Asfalisis), the national social-security fund, paid back pay on Friday 23 October 2026 for insurance time counted after retirement.¹⁶ Mononews reported that the payment came to €2,782,405.15 for 1,260 pensioners; e-ΕΦΚΑ's own release gives no figures.¹⁷¹⁶ By our calculation, that is about €2,208 per pensioner.¹⁷

Capital.gr reported on 1 November 2026, citing an unnamed e-ΕΦΚΑ official, that two batches of increases have been paid to about 5,000 beneficiaries, with an average rise of €50 a month.¹⁸ The same report says more than 20,000 working pensioners have applied to stop work, out of 170,000 who keep working and build up an increase.¹⁸ e-ΕΦΚΑ has not published these figures.¹⁶ Our guide for working pensioners explains how the increase works.

Property: Spitogatos asking prices up 5.7% a year, rents flat

The mean asking price for homes for sale on Spitogatos, a Greek property listings portal, rose 5.7% in the third quarter of 2026 on a year earlier.¹⁹²⁰²¹ A year before, the rise was 10.0%, according to Mononews and Fortune Greece.²⁰²¹ Mean asking rents were flat nationally, after a rise of 7.2% a year earlier.¹⁹²⁰²¹ In Attica, asking sale prices and asking rents both rose 5.0%; in Thessaloniki, sale prices rose 6.7% and rents 5.3%.¹⁹²⁰²¹ Insider.gr reported the index on 22 October 2026.¹⁹

These are prices that sellers and landlords ask on one portal, not prices paid.¹⁹²⁰ For the index of the Bank of Greece (Τράπεζα της Ελλάδος, Trapeza tis Ellados), see our piece on Greek property prices.

In brief

• €300 for the long-term unemployed: a proson.gr report of 30 October 2026 again calls it an automatic payment "without application", but ΔΥΠΑ (Δημόσια Υπηρεσία Απασχόλησης, Dimosia Ypiresia Apascholisis), the public employment service, lists no new announcement about it as of 1 November 2026.²³²² Our €300 guide still applies.
• myDiesel: from today, 1 November 2026, professional farmers can buy farm diesel at registered stations with the excise duty discounted, through ΑΑΔΕ's app.²⁴ See our myDiesel guide.
• E-invoicing: from Monday 2 November 2026, businesses with gross income up to €1 million must issue invoices to other businesses and the public sector only as e-invoices.²⁵²⁶ See our e-invoicing guide.