The outcome of an appeal filed by gas supplier DEPA Commercial to challenge a 2019 ruling by an Athens Court of First Instance that vindicated an overcharging claim by ELFE (Hellenic Fertilizers and Chemicals), scheduled to be heard next week, is pivotal for the gas company’s privatization plan.

If ELFE overcomes the appeal lodged by DEPA Commercial – which, as things stand, is expected to return 63 million euros to the fertilizer and chemicals company for overcharged gas supply between 2012 and 2015 – then this precedent will prompt more overcharging cases, for the same period, by other customers, primarily electricity producers and industrial enterprises.

Such a development, which, according to sources, could end up costing DEPA Commercial a total of up to one billion euros in rebates, threatens to derail the company’s privatization procedure as investors would not want to take on such a financial burden. Worse still, DEPA Commercial’s sustainability would be severely tested, the sources added.

DEPA Commercial was formed by gas utility DEPA specifically for its privatization.

The appeals court will require some time before it delivers its verdict. If the ruling is in favor of ELFE, then DEPA Commercial is expected to take the case to the Supreme Court. A prolonged legal battle would surely impact the gas company’s growth plans.

In 2019, the Athens Court of First Instance ruled that DEPA passed on to its customers the cost of an oil-indexed purchase agreement with Russian gas company Gazprom without considering lower prices available at natural gas hubs.

Taking into account this ongoing legal battle, privatization fund TAIPED has set an early-spring deadline for binding bids by potential buyers of DEPA Commercial as well as DEPA Infrastructure, the gas utility’s other new entity.