Leading industrialist Evangelos Mytilineos, chairman and CEO of the Mytilineos group, has pointed out the energy-cost challenges faced by group member Aluminium of Greece ahead of its expiring electricity supply agreement with power utility PPC.

The power utility has already made clear it cannot continue offering favorable electricity supply agreements to industrial consumers, especially under the current market conditions.

Aluminium of Greece’s electricity supply agreement with PPC expires in 2023. Other energy-intensive industries are also under pressure to resolve their energy-cost issues. For some, the problem is even more acute as their supply agreements with PPC end at the end of this year.

PPC, in negotiations with industrial consumers, has remained adamant on its position, insisting it cannot keep offering favorable terms, especially given the adverse market conditions and a current wholesale market model that  severely restricts profit margins of electricity producers and transfers excess revenues to the Energy Transition Fund for financing of household support measures.

In response, the government is now looking for solutions that would offer incentive for power purchase agreements (PPAs) between renewable energy producers and industrial enterprises, the objective being to ease the energy-cost burden on industries.

Energy minister Kostas Skrekas recently sat in at a meeting staged by SEV, the Hellenic Association of Industrialists, which called for urgent action that could resolve the energy cost concerns faced by industrial enterprises.