Greek power the priciest in Europe
Greece had the highest average cost of electricity among the 27 member-states of the European Union in the first quarter of the year, according to official data from Brussels published on Thursday.
The Greek wholesale rate, which is also used to determine the retail rate, stood at 50 euros per megawatt/hour, which is about 50% more than the EU mean rate of €34/MWh. Malta came a distant second with €45/MWh, ahead of Bulgaria with €42/MWh, and Romania and Poland at €41/MWh.
Greece’s rate was three times that of Sweden, which stood at €17/MWh in the January-March 2020 period.
The European Commission report that presented those figures explained that Greece is among the countries that traditionally rely on imports, have limited cross-border networks and face the reduction of lignite-based production and high emission costs. Greece, in short, has all of the features that make a market more expensive.
