The Environment, Energy & Climate Change Ministry has initiated a plan to create a Greek Energy Exchange that will strive to play a significant role in the southeast European market by offering a platform for energy-sector trading issues.

As a preliminary move, Environment, Energy & Climate Change Minister Yiannis Maniatis asked energy sector authorities – at a recent meeting in Athens – to prepare legal framework within three months leading to the creation of an energy exchange. The framework will then be forwarded for public consultation.

The plan is for the new energy exchange to take over and upgrade activities currently being conducted by LAGIE, the Electricity Market Operator, concerning the electricity wholesale market, according to the minister. Maniatis has also noted that appropriate trading and settlement mechanisms would be created by the exchange, adding that energy commodity trading could also be incorporated into the exchange’s activities.

The creation of an energy exchange promises to align Greece with a European framework for an integrated energy market. At present, four energy exchanges operate in the EU. Earlier this year, on February 14, these four exchanges and thirteen electricity operators were integrated to function as a unified platform, making the date a landmark occasion for the European energy market as a first step towards full integration. The current integrated region, covering an area stretching from France to Finland, functions based on a common pricing system.

The meeting in Athens held by Maniatis included participation from Konstantinos Botopoulos, president of the Capital Market Committee; Sokratis Lazaridis, managing director of Hellenic Exchanges SA, parent company of the Athens Stock Exchange; LAGIE managing director Tasos Garis, and Regulatory Authority for Energy (RAE) vice president Dimitris Rachiotis.