Independent electricity supplier representatives will be going into their first meeting today with recently appointed deputy energy minister Gerassimos Thomas preoccupied by concerns over the plausibility of the deputy’s plan for an organized futures market, as an intermediate measure until the target model is implemented. They fear this plan may not be actualized.

Thomas, who requested today’s session as part of a series of meetings with energy sector players, has so far shown an eagerness to listen and seek solutions to various market issues.

The supplier representatives will be hoping the deputy minister has reassuring news on the launch of the target model and energy exchange markets in June, 2020.

They will also want firm news on a satisfactory hedging tool for competitive prices as a temporary substitute for NOME auctions – if they are abolished and the year’s final session, scheduled for October 16, is scrapped – until the target model’s implementation.

Suppliers fear being exposed to elevated wholesale electricity prices and other uncertainties that would endanger their sustainability if the year’s final NOME auction is not held. Suppliers have counted on the year’s final session, planned to offer a substantial electricity amount, as a growth catalyst over the next year.

Introduced about three years ago as a tool to reduce power utility PPC’s dominant retail market share, the NOME auctions have obligated the utility to offer rivals below-cost wholesale electricity.