An amendment designed to inject a further 45 million euros into the renewable energy (RES) special account in 2017 by increasing the role to be played by electricity suppliers in covering a RES-supporting ETMEAR surcharge rather than burdening consumers and industrial enterprises has been submitted to Greek Parliament for ratification.

An extension granted by the country’s creditor representatives to Greece until the end of 2017, rather than mid-2017, as demanded by the bailout, for the elimination of the RES special account deficit has also been attached to the amendment.

By focusing on electricity suppliers for the ETMEAR surcharge, energy minister Panos Skourletis kept his promise to not increase the surcharge for consumers and industries, and also avoided tariff cuts for RES producers, a prospect that had not been ruled out.

According to the amendment, electricity suppliers will cover the entire ETMEAR surcharge amount as of 2017, whereas the existing law anticipated 75 percent coverage of the surcharge by electricity suppliers in 2017 and 100 percent in 2018.

The contribution of electricity suppliers will be determined by their respective retail market shares, meaning that the main power utility PPC, which currently holds an 89 percent share, will be responsible for providing the bulk of the ETMEAR surcharge for as long as it remains the Greek market’s dominant supplier.