The prospect of cheaper electricity offered by the imminent NOME auctions reform is prompting one energy-intensive industry after another to apply for electricity supply permits in order to be able to take part in the auctions and make the most of them once they are introduced.

The textile industry Epilektos, headed by Evripidis Dontas, and the Viohalco corporate group are the most recent examples of industries that have applied for electricity supply permits following Titan cement, the first to be granted an electricity supply permit for 100 MW roughly two years ago.

According to sources, RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, is expected to grant Epilektos its electricity supply permit, whose capacity will be 30 MW, within the next few days, possibly even today. It had applied for a license last February.

The Viohalco corporate group, according to the same sources, is expected to submit its application early in June.

Industrial enterprises seeking electricity supply permits will use them exclusively to acquire cheaper electricity through the NOME auction plan, ratified last Sunday night as part of a superbill of measures required by the country’s international lenders.

NOME auctions, scheduled to be launched in September, will provide third parties with access to PPC’s low-cost lignite and hydropower sources as part of the bailout-related obligation to help break the utility’s dominance.