Common Benefit Services charge, to be covered by consumers, priced at 800 million euro

Greece’s Regulatory Authority for Energy, RAE, has set a price that stands close to figures of previous years for its annual Common Benefit Services charge, which is distributed to electricity bills.

According to information gained by Energypress, RAE’s latest annual amount for Common Benefit Services, or YKO, can be estimated to be about 800 million euro, compared to 670 million euro in previous years.

Following a recent court decision enforced on YKO procedures, the coalition government will need to ratify a bill in Parliament before distributing the cost of this new amount to electricity bills, beginning this month.

Up until 2012, the annual YKO figure was determined and managed exclusively by RAE. However, following a legal challenge taken to the Council of State, Greece’s Supreme Administrative Court, it was decided that the government would need to ratify amendments each year approving the YKO amounts needed to be charged, as determined by RAE’s calculations. The annual figure is mostly comprised of the cost of providing electricity to the Greek islands, as well as cheaper rates for various underprivileged social groups and large families.

Despite the court ruling, legislation approving the YKO charge has been submitted to Parliament for ratification just once, in April, 2012, when a bill drafted by the Energy Minister at the time, Mr. Giorgos Papaconstantinou, established the YKO figure at 670 million euro. The figure remained unchanged between then and now as no amendments were submitted to Parliament.