Power producers expecting first temporary CAT payment of €100m

IPTO, the power grid operator, expects, within the current week, to have finalized and sent out notifications to electricity producers detailing amounts they are to receive through the country’s temporary CAT mechanism.

Electricity producers have been eagerly awaiting these CAT payments, the first to be made, which are expected to reach a total of about 100 million euros.

The temporary CAT mechanism will be funded by electricity supplier contributions collected by IPTO.

Temporary CAT mechanism payments, applied retroactively as of May 1, will reach a maximum of 171 million euros over a 12-month period, based on a decision reached by RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy.

This figure is 54 million euros less than an initial amount of 225 million euros that had been endorsed by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Competition.

A total of 30 electricity production units – 21 operated by main power utility PPC and nine by private-sector companies – with a combined capacity of 4,672.284 MW are eligible for the 171 million euros to be provided through the temporary CAT mechanism.

This payment will be the first to be offered through the temporary CAT mechanism. Producers did not receive any payments in 2015 or during the first four-month period of this year.

The temporary CAT mechanism will be valid for a total of 12 months, according to an agreement reached with the country’s creditors, unless the permanent CAT mechanism is introduced before the end of this year, a prospect that has not been ruled out.