DEPA, the public gas corporation, is preparing to revise tariff formulas applied by the company to determine purchase prices offered to all consumer categories, including large-scale consumers, energypress sources have informed.

Until now, electricity producers have been offered special natural gas supply terms compared to household consumption, especially for heating purposes.

The gas company is believed to have completed studies that have produced results indicating leeway exists for adjustments concerning flexibility and supply security offered to customers.

It has become clear at DEPA that tariffs need to be adjusted to the energy sector’s new, liberalized and competitive environment, as shaped by institutional and regulatory changes adopted.

DEPA will seek to adopt fairer pricing formulas for all consumers, regardless of category.

The gas company has already begun negotiations with all its suppliers and is aiming to make changes over two stages. The first stage concerns the period up to 2020 or 2021 when contracts entailing gas supply by Turkey’s Botas and Algeria’s Sonatrach expire. The second stage will factor in the activation of a supply agreement for Azerbaijani natural gas via the TAP gas pipeline and Greece’s geopolitical emergence as an energy hub and role of the country’s energy exchange.

Of course, DEPA’s negotiations will also include Russian giant Gazprom, whose current supply contract for the Greek gas utility ends in 2026, and, possibly, a diversification effort by DEPA that could incorporate American LNG and spot market deals into its portfolio.

Overall, these developments changes could require DEPA to alter its gas prices offered to electricity producers, which could spark reactions from the main power utility PPC as well as independent electricity producers.

If DEPA manages to offer fair and competitive natural gas packages, then it could lay the groundwork for a leading role amid the new liberalized market.

Competition in the wholesale natural gas market is intensifying. Besides DEPA, other importers are also supplying gas to the Greek market, the main players being the Copelouzos group and the Mytilineos group.