NOME auction participants will not face any quantitative or post-purchase usage restrictions concerning electricity amounts bought at auctions but will need to cover a higher System Marginal Price (SMP), the official electricity wholesale price, for amounts found to have been exported by follow-up checks, according to a proposal expected to soon be forwarded by LAGIE, the Electricity Market Operator.

It is believed that the European Commission, which has objected to the imposition of export limits on NOME amounts, would endorse such a plan.

Certain electricity suppliers, especially traders possessing supply licenses but no – or virtually no – customer bases, have been buying considerable amounts of lower-priced electricity at NOME auctions for export, a practice offering wide profit margins given the higher electricity prices secured abroad.

Such export-minded participants are pushing NOME auction prices higher for independent suppliers seeking lower-cost wholesale electricity prices at the auctions to compete against the still-dominant power utility PPC in the Greek market.

PPC faces retail electricity market share contraction targets of 62.24 percent by the end of 2018 and 49.24 percent by the end of 2019. The power utility’s market share, which has contracted at a slower-than-required rate, remains at a level of around 80 percent. The issue is expected to be tabled for discussion by lender technocrats, now back in Athens.