Energy watchdog is probing high electricity rates
Energy regulator RAAEY is examining the high daily fluctuations of electricity prices in the wholesale market.
The watchdog’s officials have confirmed to Kathimerini that it has requested from the Energy Exchange a complete report of the hourly offers submitted by electricity producers in the last few days.
The RAAEY investigation does not concern the legality of the offers, since the institutional framework does not set an upper limit for submission. What it will look at are cases of possible speculation. “If the operating cost of a unit is 10 euros and the offer is €400 and €500, that is not justified,” RAAEY sources explained to Kathimerini.
Another subject of research is the process by which lignite units enter the system. That is, if they enter through the competitive bidding process or outside of planning, which significantly increases their compensation costs and therefore the price that is formed in the daily market. In the last few days when the price on the wholesale market started to fall, reaching €190.13 per megawatt-hour on Friday, there were deviations between the minimum and maximum price of more than €400 euros. For example, on Friday the minimum MWh rate at noon with the production of photovoltaics “at full capacity” was €88 and at the peak of demand at 9 p.m. – when the photovoltaics came out of the system – the price reached €550. A day before, the minimum price was at €75 and the maximum at €500.
The side of the non-vertically integrated suppliers refers to hundreds of millions of euros lost due to the high offers in the evening hours. Suppliers also offer an hourly rate for the energy they need to service their customers. As they convey to Kathimerni, the producers’ offers in the evening hours are beyond any prediction of theirs, as a result of which they run out of energy, which they then look for in the secondary market.
Energy Minister Thodoros Skylakakis states he is aware of the regulator’s intervention: “When you have such high prices, it makes sense for RAAEY to investigate it, without this automatically implying anything,” the minister tells Kathimerini.
He nevertheless predicts a de-escalation of prices in the coming days. Already on Friday the rate fell to €152/MWh. So far, however, July has an average MWh rate of €122.77, more than €22 higher than the June price, which means an increase in the “yellow” consumer rated for current consumption, and an increase in “green” tariffs for consumption of August.
The minister attributed the high prices to external factors and estimated that there will be a normalization within the next few days.
