The capacity to be offered by IPTO, the power grid operator, at an upcoming auction next Monday, marking the launch of the “disruption management” energy cost-saving plan for the industrial sector, will not cover demand judging by the overwhelming number of industrial enterprises that have registered to take part.

Two auctions will be staged next Monday, one covering longer-term agreements and the other short-term agreements. Total amounts of 500 MW will be offered through each auction. The session will begin with the auction for long-term deals.

The registrations made at IPTO’s registry indicate that demand by participants at the auction for longer-term agreements will exceed the capacity to be offered by 258.1 MW. Demand will exceed supply by 535.4 MW at the auction for short-term arrangements.

A total of 23 industrial enterprises interested in a total of 758.1 MW have registered for next Monday’s longer-term auction, while 27 industrial enterprises have registered for 1,035.4 MW in the short-term auctions.

The “disruption management” plan will enable energy cost savings for major-scale industry in exchange for shifting energy usage to off-peak hours whenever required by the operator.

Industrial enterprises registered to take part include the cement producers Titan, AGET, Halyps, as well as Halyvourgiki, Hellenic Halyvourgia, Sovel, Sidenor, Aluminium of Greece, Elval, Halkor, and Solk from the metals sector.

In addition, four mines operated by main power utilility PPC have registered for a total of 152 MW in the short-term auctions.

The country’s industrial sector has sought the implementation of the “disruption management” plan for quite some time. Its requirement has now become even more urgent as a result of the end of electricity tariff discounts offered by PPC to major-scale consumers since the beginning of this year, a bailout requirement.