Gas distributor EDA Attiki, covering the wider Athens area, has presented a greatly improved initial set of results concerning network growth and customer service efficiency, achieved following the company’s adoption of an upgraded corporate strategy.
EDA Attiki added more kilometers to its network during the first half of 2023 than it did throughout 2022, while the company has committed to consumer network connection waiting periods of no more than 30 days once related agreements have been signed, the gas distributor’s CEO, Leonidas Bakouras, told journalists yesterday.
The chief executive attributed the company’s improved performance to a new mentality adopted at EDA Attiki, the diligent efforts of its executives and employees, as well as the company’s utilization of multiple opportunities offered by the privatization of parent company DEPA Infrastructure, now under the wings of Italian energy giant Italgas, possessing vast experience and knowhow.
As part of its customer service upgrade, EDA Attiki has established an online service through which e-contracts concerning new network connections may be signed and supporting documents can be submitted. EDA Attiki is also adding 14 new customer service points to its overall offering.
EDA Attiki amassed an impressive total of 5,061 new connections in the first half of 2023, a complete turnaround from unfavorable data recorded during the energy crisis.
EDA Attiki had achieved a record number of new connection contracts in 2021, totaling 24,000, before an energy crisis-related slowdown midway through last year.
Highlighting the return of natural gas as a preferred energy source, seven of the company’s industrial customers who had turned to alternative sources at the beginning of the year, in an effort to offset elevated gas prices, have returned to natural gas over the past couple of months, Bakouras pointed out.
EDA Attiki aims to increase its total number of natural gas connections to 200,000 by the end of this year, from 186,515 at the end of 2022.
The company’s wider Athens network, based on data recorded at the end of 2022, covers 52 municipalities, measures 3,981 kilometers – both low and high-pressure systems – and represents a 28.5 percent share of the energy market.
EDA Attiki represents 440,000 households, 7,500 commercial consumers, and 230 large-scale industrial and commercial consumers.
DEPA Attiki’s development plan covering 2023 to 2029 aims to expand the company’s gas network to a total of 58 municipalities in the wider Athens area.