Where power bill money goes
Various charges and fees account for about 50% of what households pay for electricity
As power suppliers prepare to present on Tuesday their October tariffs, Kathimerini reveals that every other euro consumers pay to electricity companies goes to third parties for a host of other fees and charges.
The wholesale electricity price in September fell to 116 euros per megawatt-hour from €129.83/MWh in August and is expected to drop further in October following the course of demand, which traditionally declines in the fall.
The expectation is, therefore, that the price of the kilowatt-hour in October will decrease, although two large private suppliers that absorbed increases in the previous three months have already announced that they will keep their prices unchanged.
Nevertheless, the price of the KWh, regardless of the tariff, only accounts for 50% of the total electricity bill. The rest concerns taxes and fees, and so-called regulated charges which usually rise without consumers being adequately informed. They are also not affected by the de-escalation of international rates.
From Kathimerini’s analysis of a typical electricity bill for an average household, it is clear that one in two euros that households pay does not concern electricity consumption. For an annual consumption, from July 2023 to July 2024, of approximately 3,650 KWh, the total electricity bill for a domestic consumer came to €1,107.86 (after the subsidy of €33.97 for 2023). Of this amount, the cost of electricity (KWh consumption) was €661.93, corresponding to 56.68% of the total bill. Around €80 went to DEDDIE as network usage fee, some €30 went to the ADMIE system usage fee, €25.19 was for public utility services (covering the subsidized tariff of the islands) and €62 was for the fee in favor of renewables (ETMEAR). In total, these four regulated charges, common to all providers and each type of rate, correspond to 17.88% of the total bill.
That same household paid €220 for municipal fees and state broadcaster ERT and €282.45 for total taxes and fees, an amount corresponding to more than 25% of the total bill.
