The European Commission has forwarded a list of some 30 questions to Greece’s energy ministry over the country’s permanent CAT remuneration mechanism plan proposed by Athens and currently being examined and discussed by Brussels authorities.

European Commission officials have already met with government and main power utility PPC authorities to discuss details included in the country’s new CAT plan. The European Commission has also invited other interested parties, including industrialists, to Brussels to listen to views and objections concerning the CAT plan. A series of such meetings are expected to begin this week.

The industrial sector has already warned it cannot accept a CAT mechanism that does not incorporate a demand response system, as was reiterated just days ago by Antonis Kontoleon, a leading figure at EVIKEN, the Association of Industrial Energy Consumers, at an IENE (Institute of Energy for Southeast Europe) conference.

The industrial sector has not ruled out legal action if a demand response system is excluded from the CAT mechanism.

Demand response systems enable major industrial enterprises to be compensated when the TSO (ADMIE/IPTO) requests that they shift their energy usage by lowering or stopping consumption during high-demand peak hours so as to balance the electricity system’s needs.

At the other end, state-controlled PPC and the government are looking for a swift Brussels approval of the new CAT mechanism, seen as pivotal for the prospects of PPC’s bailout-required sale of lignite units.

Lignite units are planned to be eligible for CAT remuneration, according to the Greek proposal, thereby ensuring considerable earnings for prospective buyers of the Meliti and Megalopoli lignite-fired power stations included in PPC’s sale package.