Greece's heating allowance 2026–27: who gets up to €1,560 and how to apply

Greece's heating allowance (επίδομα θέρμανσης, epidoma thermansis) will be 30% higher in winter 2026–27, the Υπουργείο Εθνικής Οικονομίας και Οικονομικών (Ypourgeio Ethnikis Oikonomias kai Oikonomikon, Ministry of National Economy and Finance) announced on 14 October 2026.¹ The maximum payment rises from €1,200 to €1,560, and the income and property criteria stay as they were.¹ The detailed rules come in a κοινή υπουργική απόφαση (koini ypourgiki apofasi, a joint ministerial decision, or ΚΥΑ) published in the ΦΕΚ (Fyllo Efimeridas tis Kyverniseos), the Government Gazette.² Ta Nea reported on 20 October 2026 that the new framework was still to be finalised, and we found no 2026–27 decision in the Government Gazette by 24 October 2026.⁷

This guide keeps two things apart: what the ministry has announced for 2026–27, and last winter's rules in ΚΥΑ Α.1151/2025 (ΦΕΚ Β' 5802, 31 October 2025), whose criteria the ministry says are unchanged.¹² This winter's amounts and dates will be set by the new decision, so last winter's dates below are labelled as last winter's.²

What has been announced for winter 2026–27?

The finance ministry's announcement of 14 October 2026 says the allowance rises by 30% and the maximum by the same proportion, from €1,200 to €1,560.¹ The rise covers every subsidised form of heating: heating oil, electricity, natural gas, firewood, pellets and the other eligible fuels.¹ The income and property criteria remain unchanged.¹ The application platform is expected to open by 10 November 2026.¹ The advance, which also rises by 30%, is due to be paid by 23 December 2026.¹

The ministry puts the extra cost of the rise at €52 million, taking the allowance's total budget from €173 million to €225 million on last year's data.¹ ERT, Powergame and Ta Nea report that the minimum rises from €100 to €130.⁵⁶⁷ The ministry's text gives no minimum; €130 is last winter's €100 plus 30%, by our calculation.¹²

The same announcement covered a separate cut in the pump price of heating oil, which needs no application; our heating-oil discount guide explains it.¹

Greece's heating allowance for winter 2026–27 rises by 30% for every fuel, including electricity, and the maximum goes from €1,200 to €1,560, according to the finance ministry.¹

Who qualifies for the heating allowance?

Last winter the allowance went to individuals, whether single, married, widowed, in a civil partnership, separated or divorced, who heat their home with heating oil, kerosene, natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, firewood, pellets, district heating or electricity, and who meet the income and property criteria.² For a married couple or civil partners, the claimant was the person liable to file the income tax return, or either partner if they filed separately.² Claims are handled by ΑΑΔΕ (Ανεξάρτητη Αρχή Δημοσίων Εσόδων, Anexartiti Archi Dimosion Esodon), the Greek tax authority, which rejects automatically any application that does not meet the criteria.²

Can renters claim?

Yes: under last winter's decision, renters could claim for the home they use as their main residence.²ΕΛ The allowance covered that home whether it was rented, provided free of charge or owner-occupied at the time of applying.²ΕΛ The application asks whether the home is owned, rented or provided free, and for the tax number of the landlord or the person providing it.²

What are the income limits?

Last winter, total family income, actual and deemed, from any source, had to be no more than €16,000 for a single, widowed or separated person and €24,000 for a married couple or civil partners, plus €5,000 for each child.²ΕΛ For single-parent families the limit was €29,000, plus €5,000 for each child after the first.² Income that is exempt from income tax was left out.² Where anyone in the household ran a business, gross business revenue also had to be no more than €80,000.² The 2025–26 round used the income tax return for tax year 2024.²

What are the property limits?

Last winter, the total value of the household's real estate had to be no more than €200,000 for a single, widowed or separated person and €260,000 for a married couple, civil partners or a single-parent family, plus €40,000 for each dependent child.² The value was taken from the 2025 assessment of ΕΝΦΙΑ (Ενιαίος Φόρος Ιδιοκτησίας Ακινήτων, Eniaios Foros Idioktisias Akiniton), Greece's annual property tax.²

Who is excluded?

Last winter's decision excluded people declared as dependants on someone else's tax return, and people who declare on their return that they are hosted by someone else.² It also excluded people liable to the luxury-living tax, people with more than two private cars (or co-ownership shares adding up to more than two), business premises, and legal entities of any kind.² Tax residents of other countries who must file a Greek tax return were excluded, together with their spouses or civil partners.²ΕΛ

For electricity, the decision also excluded people with no active electricity supply and beneficiaries of the Κοινωνικό Οικιακό Τιμολόγιο (Koinoniko Oikiako Timologio), the social household electricity tariff, on the closing date for applications.²

Does nationality matter for expats?

By our reading of articles 1 and 2 of last winter's decision, it sets no condition on nationality, EU citizenship or residence permits; the test that matters for people from abroad is tax residence.² A foreign national who is tax resident in Greece and meets the income and property limits could apply, while a tax resident of another country who must file a Greek return could not.²ΕΛ Because family status, children and income were taken from the Greek income tax return for 2024, a claimant needed that return on file, by our reading.²

Are there limits by place and fuel?

Last winter, firewood qualified only in settlements of up to 10,000 inhabitants with a climatic coefficient of at least 0.8, and pellets only in settlements of up to 25,000 inhabitants with the same coefficient.² Firewood and pellets were excluded throughout the Athens–Piraeus and Thessaloniki metropolitan areas and in the municipality of Ioannina.² District heating qualified only in the municipalities of Serres, Eordaia, Kozani, Amyntaio and Megalopoli.² Each claimant could be subsidised for one kind of fuel only.²

How is the amount worked out?

Under last winter's decision, the allowance equals a reference amount for the fuel multiplied by the current-weather coefficient (ΣΟ-Μ) of the settlement where the claimant's main home is, plus 20% for each dependent child.² The 2025–26 reference amounts were €380 for electricity, €360 for pellets, €350 for district heating and firewood, €325 for natural gas, and €300 for heating oil, kerosene and liquefied petroleum gas.²

The total could not be below €100 or above €800.² In settlements with a coefficient of 1 or more it was raised by 25%, with a ceiling of €1,000, and where the coefficient was 1.2 or more by a further 25%, with a ceiling of €1,200.² That €1,200 is the maximum the ministry now raises to €1,560.¹² If every one of last winter's amounts rose by 30%, the ceilings would be €1,040, €1,300 and €1,560, by our calculation, but the ministry has published only the €1,560 figure.¹²

The current-weather coefficients are estimated by the Εθνική Μετεωρολογική Υπηρεσία (Ethniki Meteorologiki Ypiresia, National Meteorological Service) for October to March and published afterwards by a further decision.² For 2025–26 they were added as Appendix B by the amending decision of 28 May 2026, which lists coefficients by postcode and settlement.³ Central Athens postcodes such as 10000 have a coefficient of 0.25 in that appendix.³ On last winter's rules, €300 for heating oil × 0.25 gives €75, which is lifted to the €100 minimum, by our calculation.²³

A worked example on last winter's rules (by our calculation): a heating-oil household with one dependent child, in a settlement with a coefficient of exactly 1, gets €300 × 1 = €300, plus 20% for the child (€360), plus 25% for the colder settlement, giving €450.² If the 30% rise were applied to that final figure, it would be €585, by our calculation; the 2026–27 decision will set the method.¹

Why do I need to buy at least twice the allowance?

To receive the full allowance last winter, a claimant had to buy fuel worth at least twice the allowance between 1 October 2025 and 31 March 2026 (heating oil from 15 October 2025, when sales started).² If purchases fell short, the allowance was half of what the claimant had spent, and never less than €100.² Firewood and pellets counted from 1 June 2025.² For heating oil, the value of purchases was calculated at a fixed price of €1.14 a litre.² In the example above, a €450 allowance needed €900 of heating oil, or about 790 litres at €1.14; buying 500 litres (€570 at that price) would have given €285, by our calculation.²

How do I apply?

There is no automatic payment: last winter every claimant had to apply online through the myAADE portal of ΑΑΔΕ, by 5 December 2025.² ΑΑΔΕ's service menus call it «Επίδομα θέρμανσης - myΘέρμανση» (myThermansi).² The 2026–27 platform is expected to open by 10 November 2026.¹

Last winter's application asked for:²

• your ΑΦΜ (Αριθμός Φορολογικού Μητρώου, Arithmos Forologikou Mitroou), the Greek tax number, your name and the number of dependent children;²
• whether the home is in a block of flats;²
• the electricity supply number of your main home and its postal address;²
• whether the home is owned, rented or provided free, and the landlord's or provider's ΑΦΜ;²
• the floor area of the main rooms in square metres, and the fuel you want subsidised.²

Before finalising the application you had to declare an IBAN, in your own name or jointly held, on the «Δήλωση Λογαριασμού IBAN» (IBAN declaration) page of myAADE.² Contact details were taken from what you had declared on myAADE.² For fuels other than heating oil and electricity, you also entered each purchase receipt's number, its value, and the seller's ΑΦΜ and name.² ΑΑΔΕ told claimants when the application was finalised whether it had been accepted or rejected on the criteria.²

What must heating-oil invoices show?

A heating-oil invoice must be issued in the claimant's ΑΦΜ, the one linked to the TAXISnet credentials used to apply.²³ In a block of flats it must be issued in the building's ΑΦΜ, if it has one, or in the ΑΦΜ of the TAXISnet credentials used to create the building's profile.³ Heating-oil sellers transmit the invoices to ΑΑΔΕ electronically, so you do not enter them yourself.² All supporting documents and purchase receipts must be kept for five years.³ For January to March 2026 oil purchases with wrongly filled-in invoices, the May 2026 amendment let sellers issue corrected invoices until 31 August 2026, with payment by 30 September 2026.³

What if my block of flats has central heating?

Last winter, each occupant applied separately and indicated that the home was in a block of flats.² Occupants who pay for heating through the building's shared charges also entered the number of the receipt or payment notice for those charges, the ΑΦΜ of the building manager or management company, and their own share.² In parallel, the manager declared the building's ΑΦΜ (if it had one), an electricity supply number for the building, each flat's share of heating costs (χιλιοστά, chiliosta) and the names of the residents of flats not used as business premises.² The manager then activated payment, which last winter could not be done after 5 December 2025.²

What if I heat with electricity?

For electric heating, the supply number you declare must match the one recorded for your main home in ΑΑΔΕ's property register or in your tax return, or failing that in your property declaration (Ε9) or lease declaration.² You do not upload bills: the network operator ΔΕΔΔΗΕ (Diacheiristis tou Ellinikou Diktyou Dianomis Ilektrikis Energeias, the Hellenic Electricity Distribution Network Operator) collects them from suppliers, and the supply number on your bills must match the one in your application.² Last winter that meant bills covering consumption from 1 October 2025 to 31 March 2026.² One electricity supply number could be used by only one claimant of the electricity allowance.² Our electricity tariffs guide explains how bills and tariffs work; the 30% rise applies to electricity as well.¹

When was the allowance paid last winter?

These are last winter's dates, not this winter's, which the new decision will set:²

• Applications: opened on 10 November 2025 and closed on 5 December 2025.⁸²
• Advance: paid by 23 December 2025. It was 60% of the 2024–25 allowance for returning claimants and 50% of the calculated amount for new ones, plus 20% per child, and at least €80.²
• Balance: paid by 29 May 2026 for purchases of every fuel invoiced by 15 April 2026, and for electricity bills reported by ΔΕΔΔΗΕ by 15 May 2026.²
• Extra payment: by 31 July 2026 for natural gas and district heating, and for electricity bills collected later.²
• Review requests: through ΑΑΔΕ's my1521 service until 31 August 2026, with any amount due paid by 30 September 2026.²

The joint release of 29 May 2026 said the 2025–26 allowance had been paid in full to 868,466 beneficiaries, €165.26 million in total, of which €124.2 million was the December 2025 advance, according to Capital.⁴ The ministry's announcement of 14 October 2026 says 1.17 million households were helped last year.¹ The allowance is tax-free, does not count as income, and cannot be seized, withheld or set against debts to the state.² Claimants who give false information face the penalties for a false declaration and are excluded from future allowances.²

What should I do now?

• Nothing can be filed yet. The 2026–27 platform is expected to open by 10 November 2026, and the advance is due by 23 December 2026, per the ministry.¹
• Make sure heating-oil invoices are issued in your ΑΦΜ, or the building's for central heating, and keep every receipt for five years.³
• Declare an IBAN on myAADE before you apply.²
• Check your tax return and your lease details. Last winter's checks relied on the tax return and, for electricity, on the supply number recorded for your main home.²
• Apply even if you heat with electricity, gas or firewood: the 30% rise covers every eligible fuel.¹