Gas distributor DEDA is examining legal options in order to challenge a decision by RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, to remove the entire Peloponnese and the provincial cities of Veria and Giannitsa from the distributor’s five-year development plan covering 2020 to 2024.

The authority excluded these areas as estimated completion dates for projects exceeded deadlines by more than 18 months.

At the very least, DEDA is expected to ask RAE to reconsider its decisions and request further details concerning the exclusion of a total of eight cities from its five-year development plan.

Besides Veria and Giannitsa, both in the north, RAE removed six Peloponnesian towns, Tripoli, Corinth, Argos, Nafplio, Kalamata and Sparti, from DEDA’s development plan.

DEDA, now under the wings of DEPA Infrastructure, a new entity formed by gas utility DEPA ahead of its privatization, covers areas not served by EDA Attiki (wider Athens) and EDA Thess (Thessaloniki and Thessaly).

It remains unclear whether DEDA will publish the shortened five-year plan in the government gazette. Failure to do so would delay procedures for the remainder of projects on the list, including the setting of customer tariffs. The company’s administration wants to avoid such delays.