With the next visit to Athens by the country’s creditor representatives, or troika, for the next round of negotiations now imminent, and scheduled for the end of the month, the government’s energy-related officials are underlining that pending issues, even delays, which the troika has been informed of, will be tolerated. However, any delays presently being met with understanding by the troika will be rescheduled as part of the next package of agreements to be reached.

For the energy market, four major issues need to be tackled – the gas market, NOME-type auctions, Capacity Availability Ticket (CAT) revisions, and the Target Model.

The progress being made in the privatization procedures for IPTO – Greece’s Independent Power Transmission Operator, locally referred to as ADMIE – as well as PPC, the Public Power Corporation, headed for part-privatization, is said to be on schedule. Finalization of the privatization deal for DESFA, the Natural Gas Transmission System Operator, is near, but legal revisions are pending.

As for the four issues that need to be confronted, legislation for revisions to the natural gas market, which will need to satisfy troika demands, has fallen behind schedule. The country’s three gas supply companies (EPA) operating in the wider Athens area, Thessaloniki, and Thessalia, in the mid-northeast, are currently locked in negotiations with the government for compensation deals ahead of the prospective end of their respective regional monopolies, as is being demanded by the troika.

Significant progress has been made towards finalizing procedures for the establishment of NOME-type auctions in the electricity market. A 15-day deadline extension, granted following a requested made by PPC, is expected to be incorporated into the new schedule.

Delays to the CAT revision plan can be partially attributed to the fact that the European Commission has yet to deliver a detailed guideline, as had been announced, for Capacity Assurance Mechanisms. An IPTO study on specifications for services, their quantification, cost, and breakdown by type of power, is expected by the end of the month.

As for the energy market’s Target Model, just slightly behind schedule, a study by the adviser chosen by RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, LAGIE, the Electricity Market Operator, and IPTO, is expected at the end of this month.