Power bills to rise up to 15% in Sept

Power rates are set to go up on account of the huge consumption recorded over the last few days – and the coming days too – as electricity consumers are facing hikes of up to 15% in their September bills.

The rate increases will also be due to the higher cost of carbon emissions and the ongoing natural gas price rally.

To cover the decade-high level of demand, the country’s grid has had to bring the country’s entire power production capacity into the system, with lignite-fired and gas-powered plants making up for the lack of wind-produced energy and the loss of input from photovoltaics at night, when air conditioning systems have been working overtime.

Therefore wholesale power rates moved from 100 euros per megawatt-hour on July 26 to €121.93/MWh on August 1 and jumped to €185.59/MWh on Tuesday. On Wednesday they eased to €164.52/MWh.