A total electricity amount of approximately 720 MWh/h will be offered through the country’s NOME auctions by December, the chief executive of RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, noted during a speech delivered yesterday at the ongoing Thessaloniki International Fair, confirming previous energypress reports.

However, the RAE head, Nikos Boulaxis, avoided clarifying whether this amount – significantly increased compared to previous auctions, in an effort to accelerate the main power utility PPC’s bailout-required market share contraction – would be offered through one or two auctions.

Local officials fear that a split of this increased amount into two smaller lots would intensify NOME auction bidding and drive up purchase prices to levels that would leave independent suppliers, the buyers, with little, if any, leeway to offer attractive retail prices and chip into PPC’s still-dominant market share.

The NOME auctions were introduced in Greece last October to offer independent electricity suppliers access to PPC’s low-cost lignite and hydropower sources.

Boulaxis also told the trade fair that the authority he leads is examining imposing export limits on electricity amounts purchased at the NOME auctions. The European Commission objects to the imposition of any such export limits.

The RAE boss also supported that the NOME auctions have helped open up the local electricity market to new suppliers. The mid-voltage category has opened up by 35 percent, the low-voltage category by 8 percent, while the high-voltage category has remained virtually unchanged, Boulaxis informed.