The energy ministry plans to submit a draft bill of retail electricity market revisions to Parliament next week. The bill contains stricter rules aiming to prevent consumers with unpaid electricity bills from switching suppliers and counter electricity theft.

Consumers will not be able to move away from their electricity supplier if the supplier is the third power retailer at which they have accumulated overdue energy bills within a five-year period beginning January 1, 2020, according to the draft bill.

This obstacle will be combined with a debt-flagging system prepared by RAAEY, the Regulatory Authority for Waste, Energy and Water, energy minister Thodoris Skylakakis informed suppliers just days ago.

The retail electricity market revisions also include a single variable tariff formula that all electricity retailers will need to adopt and include in their tariff packages offered to customers as of January 1, 2024.

Speaking yesterday at the 27th National Energy Conference “Energy + Development”, an event organized by IENE, the Institute of Energy for Southeast Europe, the energy minister spoke of the very high cost to the system caused by electricity theft, estimating its cost at 400 million euros per year.

Rules against electricity thieves will become a lot stricter, while complicit electricians will have their professional licenses revoked, according to the new rules.