RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, appears headed towards reaching a decision to reduce the RES-supporting ETMEAR surcharge appearing on electricity bills by a single-digit figure and then reducing the supplier surcharge by an amount reflecting the RES special account’s surplus remainder.

The authority must reach a decision on the ETMEAR surcharge by the end of the year based on RES special account data provided by LAGIE, the Electricity Market Operator.

Given the LAGIE data, forecasting a 240 million-euro RES special account surplus for 2018, a generous ETMEAR surcharge reduction by RAE would come as a timely move.

After being heavily pressured by the country’s lenders to abolish the supplier surcharge, used entirely to feed the RES special account, the government reached an agreement with the lenders to reduce this surcharge in accordance with the surplus forecast for the RES account by March, 2018.

The government has yet to clarify how this procedure will be carried out but RAE now appears headed towards a solution that would divide the RES special account’s surplus by partially reducing both the ETMEAR and supplier surcharges. It is believed the ETMEAR reduction will be relatively smaller.