The country will implement an antitrust case agreement reached in late October with the European Commission – based on a Greek proposal that would offer 40 percent of power utility PPC’s lignite-generated electricity to suppliers at a predetermined price not below cost – only if Brussels approves a Greek compensation request concerning the state-controlled utility’s ongoing withdrawal of lignite facilities for a satisfactory sum reflecting amounts offered to EU member states in other such cases, energy ministry officials support.

A European Commission report on the Greek economy, released yesterday, has called for the need of a market test to determine whether sufficient supplier demand exists for the Greek proposal’s implementation in 2021.

Given the views of energy ministry officials, Greece will only go ahead with the proposal’s market test if the lignite withdrawal compensation request is approved by Brussels.

The Netherlands and Germany have both already been compensated for lignite facility withdrawals.

“In any case, as has been pointed out in the past, an overall solution that would harm PPC cannot be accepted,” an energy ministry official noted yesterday.

The Greek government has requested a three-year compensation package for PPC offering the utility approximately 180 million euros in 2021, 150 million euros in 2022 and 200 million euros in 2023.

The European Commission could offer a response to the request by the end of this month, energypress sources have informed.