The government, seeking new resources to cover the additional needs of natural gas and electricity bill subsidies, is examining all possibilities, including the RES special account’s additional revenues, generated and accumulated as a result of surging wholesale electricity prices and deemed more than sufficient to cover the remuneration needs of renewable energy producers.

However, the issue does concern certain RES producers whose contracts are susceptible to higher wholesale prices and require compensation, based on the market clearing price. The energy minister is working on this issue with DAPEEP, the RES market operator.

The level of the RES special account’s additional revenues, and how these will be utilized, has yet to be clarified. But the government’s determination to seek solutions that will soften, for consumers, the effects of sharply increased energy prices pushed up by a combination of unfavorable international factors, has become perfectly clear.

At this stage, the energy price surge appears likely to spill over into the first few months of 2022, at least.

The situation’s growing alarm, by the day, prompted the government to recently increase a  subsidy package amount for low-voltage electricity tariffs from 150 million euros to 200 million euros, just weeks after the support measure was announced. Given the ongoing developments, not even this increased amount will suffice, which has prompted the energy ministry to turn to DAPEEP for support through the RES special account.

The price surge in energy markets has been relentless in recent months. Wholesale electricity price levels for today rose to 168 euros per MWh, 26 percent higher than yesterday’s price of 133 euros per MWh.