The news of an electricity supply agreement reached and signed between a local industrial corporate group and the main power utility PPC should not be misinterpreted as a favorable development. The industrial tariff deal offered to this enterprise, and prices being offered to other industrial consumers, depending on their respective categories, do not offer sustainable solutions, industrialists are underlining.

According to industrial officials, the aforementioned agreement was signed with a heavy heart, adding that the tariffs being offered by PPC to energy-intensive industrial enterprises are too costly and threaten their futures.

According to energypress sources, industrial consumers – as part of the wider effort being made in Greece to establish a truly sustainable, long-term electricity tariff pricing policy for the industrial sector – want the target model, expected to offer improved conditions in wholesale electricity market, to be introduced sooner than planned. Officials have said the model is two years away.

However, considering Greece’s adverse economic conditions, which have made business survival an extremely challenging task, as well as the drop in commodity prices, internationally, a two-year wait for the target model could prove fatal for many industries.

Industrialists plan to demand immediate bilateral contracts between industrial consumers and electricity producers, following necessary revisions to the existing legal framework.

Practically speaking, this would allow an industrial enterprise, or group of industries, to negotiate directly with electricity producers for direct electricity orders. This could help industrial units operate at full capacity and also improve their operating cost levels. Electricity producers would also benefit from the higher electricity consumption.