A one-week extension granted to the year’s third NOME auction, originally scheduled for July 12, will be utilized by authorities for fine-tuning of the next session’s terms.

A lower starting price of 32.05 euros per MWh has been set for the July 19 session, based on a proposal forwarded by RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, while a related joint ministerial decision that needs to be issued by the energy and finance ministries is expected to be pubished in the government gazette any day now, possibly even today.

According to sources, LAGIE, the Electricity Market Operator, deems that no further revisions are needed and, as a result, is preparing to forward the terms that had been endorsed for the preceding sessions to RAE for approval.

However, officials at RAE have a different opinion and believe that certain corrections are needed so as to prevent a repeat of events at the previous NOME auction when one participant, late in the session, exploited the terms to secure electricity amounts at the starting price, thereby paying less than other bidders had earlier in the day. It appears that the loophole exploited for this development will now be rectified. RAE is expected to order LAGIE to make the necessary corrections.

The aforementioned development occurred as particpants were able to revise their orders placed during the session.

The auction’s terms submitted by LAGIE need to be endorsed by RAE, meaning that the revisions expected by the latter authority must be made before procedures can go ahead.

The NOME auctions were introduced last October to offer third parties access to PPC’s low-cost lignite and hydrocarbon sources.