Head of prime minister's office: Center's proposal will not happen

Gerrit Mäesalu, head of the Office of the Prime Minister of Estonia, said Center Party's proposal of compensating electricity bills for every household consumer will not happen.
"There will be no indiscriminate payment of 50 percent of electricity bills. We have significant health and safety worries," Mäesalu posted on social media on Wednesday.
50% ulatuses valimatut elektriarvete kinni maksmist ei tule. Meil on märkimisväärsed mured tervishoius ja julgeolekus.
— Gerrit Mäesalu (@gerritmaesalu) January 12, 2022
Center Party announced on Tuesday evening that they will take a proposal to compensate all household consumers for their electricity bills to their government partner Reform Party.
As a short-term measure, the junior coalition partner would compensate all household consumers for 50 percent of their gas and electricity consumption and legal entities for the electricity network fee in full. Center's proposal would be in effect from January to March and would cost the state an estimated €170 million, the party announced.
Additionally, as a long-term measure, the party would compensate household consumers 20 percent of their solar panel installation fees and increase the tempo of wind farm developments.
Reform has been against the idea of supporting everyone during the energy inflation crisis with former minister and current party deputy chair calling previous proposals "malicious" and the latest Center proposal "dumb".
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Editor: Kristjan Kallaste