Legal cases filed by LAGIE, the Electricity Market Operator, against IPTO, the power grid operator and HEDNO, the Hellenic Electricity Distribution Network Operator, for overdue payments concerning the RES special account have revealed interesting data.

Documents and invoices submitted for three legal cases against the two operators show that both stopped paying LAGIE many months ago. This refusal to pay is unjustified, the data gathered for the case has indicated.

Two PV associations, SPEF and PSAF, are supporting LAGIE’s legal action, filed at an Athens Court of First Instance.

Officials at the two associations noted that the legal action may be unraveling an unbelievably messy situation of overdue payments in the country’s RES sector, but stressed that debts need to be drastically reduced now that the main power utility PPC’s coffers are being reinforced by a 620 million-euro injection as a result of the sale of its subsidiary IPTO, the power grid operator. Further delays threaten to devastate the entire RES sector, the PV associations have warned. The problems experienced in the sector hail from the delayed relay of RES-supporting ETMEAR surcharges.

PPC has attributed its delayed relay of RES payments to its unpaid receivables, currently at 2.5 billion euros. However, market officials, suggesting that PPC is retaining RES-related amounts, contend that the utility’s unpaid receivables figure would need to reach a level of between 5 and 6 billion euros to justify the current RES sector debts and deficits.

LAGIE is seeking 655 million euros from IPTO and over 130 million euros from HEDNO for payments covering a five-year period plus interest for delays.