HEDNO rejects bidding team’s smart meters tender appeal

HEDNO, the Hellenic Electricity Distribution Network Operator, has rejected a preliminary appeal filed by a team comprised of OTE (Hellenic Telecommunications Organization) Intrakat and Intrasoft International, the losing bidder of a pilot tender offering a contract for the installation of an initial lot of 200,000 smart meters.

The bidding team had filed the preliminary appeal a while ago, but HEDNO’s delay in responding was interpreted as a silent rejection, prompting the trio to file a legal case to the Council of State, Greece’s Supreme Administrative Court, in an effort to have the tender annulled.

This action promises to delay the procedure as a Supreme Court ruling is not expected before February.

If the Supreme Court ends up rejecting the trio’s case, then HEDNO, locally acronymed DEDDIE, will declare Intracom Telecom as the winning bidder.

Intracom Telecom submitted a 46 million-euro offer to take on the smart meters pilot project, compared to a 62 million-euro offer made by OTE, Intrakat and Intrasoft International.

Should the Supreme Court accept the trio’s case, the tender will need to be annulled and relaunched, which would prompt further delays to the overall procedure.

Successful completion of the pilot program is expected to pave the way for the project’s major tender offering the replacement of 7.5 million conventional power meters with smart meters.

The first stage of the pilot program, entailing the installation of 10,000 smart meters, is not expected to be completed before January, 2018 – if the tender is not annulled. The pilot tender’s other 190,000 smart meters will then be installed over a 15-month period.