Government pulls plug on power auctions

Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos has been sent a legislative act to sign which foresees the cancellation of the electricity auction scheduled for October 16. With this act, the government aims to put an end to the auctions which have helped bring Public Power Corporation to its knees.

While the cancellation of the auctions forms part of the measures to streamline PPC, it also changes the landscape for alternative power suppliers, which have already suffered some serious effects from the package of measures to save the electricity giant. In the auctions PPC sold electricity from lignite and hydroelectric plants to its rivals at below cost, generating losses of some 600 million euros over three-and-a-half years.

In its announcement on Monday regarding the abolition of electricity auctions, the ministry also spoke of speeding up the procedures for the operation of the Energy Credit Market, which will host the trading of future contracts before June 2020.

The ministry added in its statement that it is “processing an additional set of measures aimed at improving the electricity retail market, bolstering competition and eventually the adoption of more efficient commercial policies for consumers.”