Rate hikes for mid-voltage consumers
Professionals and low-to-medium-voltage industries are the first categories of electricity consumers to be hit with power rate hikes due to the increase in carbon emission rights prices.
Given the problems in Public Power Corporation’s (PPC) cash flow and the pressure due to the increased cost of pollutants and the ensuing rise in the wholesale price of electricity, the expansion of the hikes into other categories of consumers is just a matter of time, including household consumption. Still, in cooperation with the Energy Ministry, PPC is making every effort to avoid such extensive hikes due to the political cost they would entail, especially during an election year.
At the moment PPC is trying to deal with extra costs of more than 50 million euros due to the increased price of carbon emissions, which has deprived it of liquidity and has forced it to forfeit its obligations to suppliers.
The utility has already raised the charge for CO2 pollutants in the category of professionals and low-to-medium-voltage industries from 2.5 euros per megawatt/hour to just under 12 euros/MWh today. Alternative power companies have also raised their rates for their medium-voltage consumers.
