The results of power utility PPC’s sale of lignite packages between 2021 and 2023 – offered through forward contracts to third parties, an obligation that was recently completed, as the company announced – confirm a rising market trend in hedging strategies compared to the recent past.

An antitrust mechanism adopted in 2021 as part of a wider effort to further liberalize Greece’s energy market offered third parties access to PPC’s lignite-fired electricity production, until recently the lowest cost of generation to which the power utility had exclusive access.

The European Commission had begun expressing concerns about PPC’s monopoly in the Greek lignite market as far back as 2008.

PPC, according to the mechanism’s rules, was obliged to offer third parties quarterly electricity packages corresponding to 40 percent of its lignite-based electricity production in the equivalent quarter a year earlier.

Although the majority of PPC’s lignite packages were placed on the European energy exchange, with just a fraction made available on the Greek energy exchange, the transactions showed participants were keen to hedge.

The European energy exchange offers a far greater product range, compared to the more limited offer of products on the Greek exchange, making it more appealing for prospective buyers.

Enriching the Greek energy exchange with new products, services and activities, all of which would ensure more accurate energy price levels, is a top priority, Alexandros Papageorgiou, the exchange’s CEO, told the Athens Investment Forum earlier this week.