Power consumption charged by the hour
A new rate category for electricity will be introduced within the year that will charge use by businesses in real time, every 15 minutes, affording them the opportunity to reduce their energy costs.
A new rate category for electricity will be introduced within the year that will charge use by businesses in real time, every 15 minutes, affording them the opportunity to reduce their energy costs.
This new, “dynamic” type of invoicing will allow consumers, as far as possible, to transfer their consumption to low-cost hours, which is usually lunchtime, when the output of photovoltaics peak.
The Environment and Energy Ministry, in collaboration with energy regulator RAAEY and energy providers, is currently preparing the framework for these dynamic invoices, which will, however, leave out domestic consumers. This is because a prerequisite for real-time kilowatt-hour measuring and billing is the installation of smart meters, which has been a strategic project of the Hellenic Electricity Distribution Network Operator (DEDDIE) for at least 10 years.
In the first phase, the flexibility of dynamic invoices – signified by orange under the new color-coded system – will be used by medium voltage and low voltage businesses below 25 volt amps, such as professional workshops, hairdressers, bakeries, confectioneries, etc, as well as public buildings with large consumption.
According to the data presented on Friday by RAAEY, another 50,000 smart meters will be added to the existing 600,000 by the end of the year. DEDDIE is planning the installation of another 300,000 such meters in 2025.
For the some seven million household consumers, the road to utilizing dynamic invoices will open gradually and be completed at the end of the decade. With the installation of smart meters, household consumers, aware from the previous day of the fluctuation of prices in the wholesale market, will be able to plan the use of energy-intensive electrical appliances (washing machines, ovens, irons, etc) at the times when the price is lower.
This presupposes, in addition to the smart meters, the use of smart devices that can be remotely operated. Discussions are also under way concerning a subsidy program for replacing household appliances with “smart” ones to support the savings efforts of households.
The Environment and Energy Ministry’s goal is to complete the regulatory framework for these invoices, which will be addressed to businesses, by the end of October.
To this end, RAAEY has organized two consecutive meetings with suppliers in the coming week to determine the sorts of invoices that will be made available to the market.
