RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, and the new DESFA board appointed by the Snam-Enagás-Fluxys team that acquired a 66 percent stake in Greece’s gas grid operator last year have yet to find common ground on tariff revisions for a four year-period that already commenced on January 1.

The Greek energy authority has yet to endorse Revenue Requirement (RR) and Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) figures for this four-year period, which is generating uncertainty for the new owners.

RAE insists costs associated with additional amenities that have been provided to full-time staff over the years  should not be factored into the calculations, according to sources.

RAE is obviously seeking to restrict the operator’s officially recognized costs in order to keep tariffs low now that the gas grid operator’s privatization has led to an annual total of 14 monthly paychecks for staff on the payroll, as is the case for all private sector enterprises,  from the previous 12 applying to public sector firms.

DESFA’s new administration is pushing for the opposite. The operator’s new ownership does not want to cease offering DESFA employees their customary amenities but wants to recover these through tariffs.

As for revenue matters, the current gap between the two sides appears to be wider. For example, DESFA’s new administration regards a recent gas pipeline maintenance contract signed by the operator and TAP as a supplementary entrepreneurial activity whose resulting revenues should not be factored into the tariff calculations.