Greek industrial sector representatives are making clear the sector will not tolerate discriminatory treatment, compared to conditions in other EU countries, amid the government’s ongoing negotiations with the country’s creditors, or troika, to settle on a finalized plan for NOME-type auctions as part of the overall plan to liberalize Greece’s electricity market.

The plan’s main objective, as the Greek government sees it, is to ensure lower-priced electricity for local industry, but objections raised by the troika on two key issues has unsettled the Greek sector. The creditors, according to the representiatives, have no right to consider certain proposals for the plan as unlawful when they are already being applied in other EU industrial sectors.

The Greek government’s proposal for the NOME-type auctions, based on levels determined at a PPC (Public Power Corporation) shareholders meeting last February, entails applying various coefficients ranging from 0.7 to 1.3 to a base price. The coefficient applied depends on the category of consumer to be supplied. Lower coefficients will be applied if suppliers intends to sell to industry, resulting in lower prices. If the supplier intends to sell into the retail market, the highest coefficient will be applied, leading to higher prices. The troika has raised objections to this proposal.

A second point of disagreement being expressed by the troika concerns a clause that will allow the resale of unused electricity amounts by industrial companies.

According to sources, the troika has been handed adequate justification for both objections, including specific studies that illustrate the proposals cater to functional needs, not profit-minded interests. Greek industrial sector officials possess details on equivalent NOME-type plans being used in other parts of the EU, and are prepared to use them to defend their case. Policies considered to be legal in France, for example, cannot be viewed as unlawful when proposed for the Greek market, the officials contend.

The troika appears to have no objections to the base price for the auctions. As disclosed by energypress, the base price, based on calculations conduced by RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, will range between 35 and 38 euros per megawatt hour, as a net amount, not including various other surcharges to be imposed.