RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, has decided to marginally increase the RES-supporting ETMEAR surcharge appearing on electricity bills for all energy-intensive industrial consumers and mid-voltage consumers using over 13 GWh per year, while the fee for household consumers will be slightly lowered, leaving its average level unchanged, the authority has decided, according to energypress sources.

The slight surcharge hike for industrial consumers will come close to satisfying an EU directive requesting a surcharge level that represents no less than 15 percent of the average.

At present, following previous revisions made by RAE last December, the surcharge in Greece for the industrial category stands at 13 percent of the average. The latest revision will take it up to 14 percent.

The RES-supporting surcharge will be decreased by one percent for household consumers, leaving the overall tally unchanged.

The objective is to eliminate the RES special account deficit by the end of 2017.

RAE needs to return an unanticipated sum to the main power utility PPC, which overpaid 90 million euros into the RES special account for 2014 and 2015 as a result of electricity consumption overestimations.