An amendment reducing the RES-supporting supplier surcharge by 50 percent is expected to be submitted to a parliamentary committee today along with a draft bill for the main power utility PPC’s bailout-required sale of lignite units.

The supplier surcharge was expected to contribute 374.93 million euros to the RES special account in 2018 but the anticipated 50 percent reduction will reduce this figure by half, to 187.4 million euros. The surcharge is expected to be replaced in 2019.

The plan to reduce the supplier surcharge contribution to the RES special account in 2018 is based on a surplus projection forecast by LAGIE, the Electricity Market Operator.

ESAI/HAIPP, the Hellenic Association of Independent Power Producers, and ESEPIE, the Hellenic Association of Electricity Trading & Supply Companies have both questioned the operator’s figures.

The energy ministry believes that the end-of-year surplus projection made by LAGIE, expected to reach 256 million euros, allows for a 50 percent reduction of the supplier surcharge until the end of the year.

According to a bailout term, reducing the supplier surcharge in the case of a RES special account surplus should be a priority.

If the supplier surcharge contribution is reduced by 187.4 million euros for 2018, then 73.2 percent of the projected RES special account surplus will be used to service the surcharge reduction.

Electricity producers and suppliers have requested a retroactive supplier surcharge reduction as of April 1.