The restructuring process of the renewable energy sources (RES) sector, through a series of measures taken over the past two-and-a-half years, has created appropriate conditions for increased pay to RES producers, beginning with the domestic photovoltaic sub-sector, Environment, Energy & Climate Change Deputy Minister Makis Papageorgiou has told local media.

“As we have pledged, following the tidying up of the RES sector and measures taken to end the (RES) special account deficit, we will, in 2015, examine and proceed with all necessary improvements required as a result of possible distortions that continue to exist in the remuneration system for RES producers,” Papageorgiou remarked. “Priority will be given to domestic photovoltaic producers, based on specific data and, unfailingly, with sustainability as the objective. According to forecasts, payment improvements may reach as much as 50 percent within 2016,” he added.

According to official forecasts, had no action been taken for the RES special account, its deficit would have reached 2.4 billion euros by the end of 2014. The deficit is now expected to have vanished within 2015.

Commenting on the recently legislated net metering system – it offers electricity consumers who generate their own power from an eligible on-site facility and deliver it to local distribution facilities the ability to offset the electric energy provided by the utility during an applicable billing period – the deputy minister noted that, following its initial implementation for photovoltaics in the first year, public consultation procedures will be staged for further improvement and additional application to other technologies.

Based on a recent decision made by Papageorgiou, an inflow-outflow electricity calculation for self-producers will be made every four months. Self-producers who have consumed more electricity than they have produced will be charged the difference. Surplus production amounts will be rolled over into the next four-month billing period.

The deputy minister, whose comments were offered just over a week prior to the approaching snap elections, underlined that “while some [political parties or politicians] promise everything to everybody, the Environment, Energy & Climate Change Ministry has, over the past two-and-a-half years, told the truth, as harsh as it may be, because the truth, alone, can save the RES sector.”