The country’s RES special account surplus for the end of 2018 will be higher than expected, LAGIE, the Electricity Market Operator, is expected to soon announce in a new and revised report taking into account data for the first two months of the year.

The RES special account surplus will be projected to exceed 250 million euros in the revised report as a result of the consideration of data stemming from these two additional months.

The previous LAGIE report, which was published in early February and took into account market data up to the end of December, had forecast a RES special account surplus of 226.8 million euros – assuming the RES-supporting ETMEAR and supplier surcharges remained unchanged along with other factors, such as emission right prices and System Marginal Prices (SMP).

However, certain changes have come about since the previous report by LAGIE, responsible for the operation of the wholesale electricity market in Greece.

CO2 emission right prices have risen from 7 euros per ton to 10 euros per ton. The new solar energy units market penetration forecast has fallen to less than half the original estimate of 100 MW. Also, RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, has decided to reduce the ETMEAR surcharge paid by electricity consumers. The supplier surcharge has underperformed in the first few months of the year. The SMP has remained unchanged at 52 euros per MWh.

The energy ministry intends to reduce the supplier surcharge by 35 percent for the remainder of 2018.

The country’s lenders insist that consumers must shoulder the RES special account costs through the ETMEAR surcharge.