The Thessaloniki water company EYATh immediately put this into practice. It introduced social tariffs that allow poor people to receive 30 m3 water free of charge per semester (4 months period). This applies to low income households with total taxable income less than or equal to 8.000 EUR per year, increased by 3.000 EUR for each dependent child.
For consumption of 31 – 80 m3 of water per semester they can get a 50% discount of their water bill. The measure will alleviate the poverty that many of the Greek people have fallen into as a consequence of austerity measures and job losses.
We welcome the social tariff system in Thessaloniki and we hope that water companies that do not yet have a social tariff system in place will follow the example.
The greek water workers unions and SOSteNERO have played an important role to achieve this social policy. They kept their promise “water for people, not for profits” after the referendum that prevented the privatisation of EYATh.
— source right2water.eu