Levy for energy companies?
The government is mulling the possibility of imposing an extraordinary levy on the surplus profits of energy companies, as was done recently with refineries, in light of large increases in wholesale electricity prices.
The matter will be discussed at a meeting convened by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at his office at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, including with the leadership of the Ministry of Energy and the competent regulatory authority (RAAEY). The latter has already requested the data on the hourly offers submitted by electricity producers in recent days.
RAAEY’s probe 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 certain quantity of electricity is 10 euros and the offer is €400 and €500, it is not justified,” sources in RAAEY told Kathimerini.
Another subject of investigation by RAAEY 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.
According to the data of the Southeast European Energy Institute (IENE), the average market clearing price in the past seven days was €143.79 per megawatt-hour, recording a 71-week high and an increase of 38.42% compared to the previous one. In fact, the minimum average price was €20/MWh, while the maximum jumped to €550. The maximum values are recorded in the evening hours, when the photovoltaic units are taken out of the system and while the demand for electricity remains high.
According to an analysis by IENE, the heatwave across the country in recent days brought a steep increase in demand in the Greek system, which approached 1,407 gigawatt-hours on a weekly basis.
“Despite the honorable efforts of renewable energy units to contain the prices, they took the rise as high temperatures prevail throughout Eastern Europe, so imports are also expensive,” IENE notes.
