Two cost-of-living measures took effect in October 2026. One lowers the VAT on solar panels for homes; the other cuts the excise duty on heating oil until the end of April. The first has narrow wording that decides who benefits.
Solar panels at home: 9% VAT from 16 October 2026
Decree Κ.Δ.Π. 363/2026 of the Council of Ministers, published in the Official Gazette on 16 October 2026, adds a new item to the Twelfth Schedule of the VAT Law, the list of supplies taxed at the reduced rate of 9% under section 18A. The new item covers photovoltaic systems of household customers, for self-consumption of electricity in their homes.
Each part of that wording counts:
- household customer — under the Electricity Market Regulation Law 130(I)/2021, a customer who buys electricity for their own household consumption, excluding commercial or professional activities;
- self-consumption — the system produces electricity for the household’s own use;
- in their homes — the system is installed at the customer’s residence.
The decree sets no end date and no separate start date, so it applies from its publication on 16 October 2026. Until then, these systems carried the standard rate of 19%.
What stays at 19%
Systems for shops, offices, factories and other business premises remain at the standard rate, as do installations that are not for self-consumption in the owner’s home. A battery bought on its own, or building work invoiced separately from the system, is not named in the decree and should be confirmed before 9% is applied.
For installers
The rate follows the tax point. Invoices issued and payments received from 16 October 2026 for qualifying homes carry 9%; a deposit received before that date has already been taxed at 19%. It is sensible to keep, with each sale, evidence that the customer is a household and that the system is for their own home.
Heating oil: 6.39 cents a litre less, to 30 April 2027
From 23 October 2026 the excise duty on heating oil is reduced until 30 April 2027. The reduction equals 6.39 cents a litre, including VAT. On the day the measure started, the Consumer Protection Service checked 290 petrol stations: 268 of them, or 92.4%, had lowered the retail price by at least 6.39 cents.
For businesses that sell heating oil, pricing and stock records should reflect the change from 23 October.
What this means in practice
A household installing panels on its own home should see 9% VAT on invoices from 16 October 2026; a business installing panels on its premises should not. Installers need the customer’s status on file. For heating oil, the lower tax runs through the winter, to 30 April 2027.
Sources: Decree Κ.Δ.Π. 363/2026 (Official Gazette, Part III(I), No. 6053, 16 October 2026); sections 18A and the Twelfth Schedule of the VAT Law 95(I)/2000; the Electricity Market Regulation Law 130(I)/2021; and the Consumer Protection Service’s announcement of 23 October 2026.
This note sets out the position as published up to 26 October 2026 and is not professional advice. Rates and reliefs change, and how they apply depends on the facts of each case. Please contact us before acting on anything set out here.