Estonia

US sees American interests in PPC’s southeast Europe plans

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Greek power utility PPC’s aspirations to establish itself as a key energy market player in the Balkans and southeast Europe is being embraced by US investors who, through such a development, see further potential for interests of their own, given the excellent standing of Greek-US bilateral ties.

Protecting the region’s energy sufficiency from the threat posed by Russia remains a top priority for the US, which also sees potential for American interests in PPC’s plans to penetrate markets in the Balkans and beyond with large quantities of renewable energy.

PPC’s chief executive Giorgos Stassis made note of the power utility’s plans for southeast Europe, and also referred to the wider Three Seas Initiative in an announcement made yesterday following a meeting with Geoffrey Pyatt, US Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources.

The Three Seas Initiative, presently covering 13 countries between the Baltic Sea, Black Sea and Adriatic Sea, aims to attract major investments from the EU and the US in the areas of road and rail transport, economy, energy infrastructure for transmission of renewable energy, fiber optic development and everything needed to launch 5G telecommunication networks.

Greece, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia are all included in the Three Seas Initiative, while Ukraine and Moldova were granted membership rights last September.

Electricity prices projected to rise 15-20% in November

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A recent rise in the Dutch TTF index, a European gas benchmark, as a result of the Middle East crisis and a rupture on the Baltic-connector undersea gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia, which has raised suspicions of Russian involvement, will result in significantly higher November gas delivery contracts, which, in turn, will push up domestic wholesale electricity prices, market officials have projected.

Wholesale electricity prices are seen rising between 15 and 20 percent next month, which suppliers would relay to consumers.

Electricity suppliers are expected to announce monthly nominal tariffs – not including subsidies – of at least 18 cents per KWh for November.

The country’s electricity suppliers, under current law, are required to announce price levels for every forthcoming month by the 20th of each preceding month. This requirement will be terminated at the end of the year, when emergency energy-crisis measures are to be lifted.

The energy ministry is currently finalizing a plan that will introduce – as of January, for 12 months – a single variable tariff formula for all electricity suppliers, who will apply it and then set respective tariff levels depending on their profit-margin strategies.

The plan’s objective being to intensify competition and subdue prices, while also offering consumers price-comparing clarity.

All electricity consumers will be automatically transferred to the new single variable tariff as of January 1, unless they opt, prior to this date, for any other supply deals offered by suppliers.

 

Power suppliers project sharp price rises if conditions persist

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Domestic electricity prices will inevitably rise by up to 15 percent as of January – when energy-crisis measures are planned to be lifted, reactivating indexation clauses – if current unfavorable international trends continue, local electricity market officials has projected.

Upward trajectories of natural gas and CO2 emission right prices, as well as the danger of a further rise in already-elevated interest rates, are worrisome factors whose combined effect could push up electricity prices, one official pointed out.

In Greece, wholesale electricity prices have soared by 80 percent over the past three days. On Sunday, wholesale electricity was priced at 93.49 euros per MWh, rose to 127.75 euros per MWh yesterday, before reaching 168.43 euros per MWh today.

Worse still, these wholesale electricity prices have yet to factor in October’s sharp rise in the price of natural gas, up approximately 30 to 35 percent in the first half of the month, to a peak of 56 euros per MWh, as Greece’s wholesale electricity market factors in gas prices from a month earlier.

Natural gas holds the dominant share of Greece’s energy mix, at 43.35 percent, followed by renewables, well below with a 21.37 percent share.

Though still well below last year’s astronomical price levels, natural gas prices of as low as 30 euros per MWh, recorded early this month, now seem to be a thing of the past.

The Israel-Gaza war and threat of a wider conflict in the Middle East – a negative development that has already disrupted operations at Israel’s Tamar gas field, from where gas quantities are delivered to Egypt and processed into LNG for export to Europe – is already impacting prices.

Price levels have been hit even harder by last week’s discovery of damage to the Estonian-Finnish Baltic-connector gas pipeline and telecommunications cable.

As for CO2 emission right prices, they have skyrocketed to levels 500 percent higher than pre-energy crisis levels, reaching approximately 90 euros per ton and, according to analysts, are projected to remain elevated over the next three years.

Nuclear plants, Baltic pipeline on energy council agenda

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Electricity market reforms, the energy situation in Ukraine, progress on revised National Energy and Climate Plan appraisals, energy-efficiency financing matters, Europe’s preparations for winter, the shutdown of the Baltic-connector pipeline, CO2 emission rights, as well as nuclear power plant support are among the agenda items to be discussed at today’s EU energy council.

On the electricity market reforms front, support for nuclear power plants will be a key agenda topic. France and nine other EU member states are expected to call for two-way Contracts for Difference. Germany has already expressed reservations, fearing the impact of CfDs on the rest of the market if unconditionally applied.

This disagreement needs to be resolved as quickly as possible so that the revised market structure can be finalized and adopted by the end of the year. Market players are confident a compromise solution will be found before the end of this month.

European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson is expected to update EU energy ministers on how assessments of revised NECPs are progressing.

Also, Finland and Estonia will inform fellow EU members on any findings of an investigation conducted to determine the cause of damage discovered last week at the Baltic-connector gas pipeline, used by the two countries for access to an underground gas storage facility in Latvia. Suspicions of sabotage have been raised.

Latest events prompt energy market turmoil ahead of winter

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Last weekend’s outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war, undermining any attempt at peace in the Middle East and the process of normalizing Israel’s relations with the Arab countries, and, in addition, the suspected sabotage of the Baltic-connector gas pipeline, used by Finland and Estonia for access to an underground gas storage facility in Latvia, are two developments that have come at the worst possible time for European energy security and cost concerns, right before winter and following an EU decision to end energy crisis-related support measures for consumers all over Europe.

The two developments would have impacted energy markets any time of year, but their pre-winter emergence makes them even more critical. This is the time of year when demand for natural gas and oil increases in Europe, along with prices. In Greece, the heating oil trading season is set to begin October 13.

Markets around the continent have not been appeased by the fact that European storage facilities are 95 percent full, but instead, are being driven higher by the unease brought about by the latest events.

Besides the Israel-Gaza war, the Baltic-connector pipeline has just been shut down after a sudden drop in pressure, raising fears of Russian sabotage as retribution for Finland joining Nato in April this year.

The damage to this infrastructure has revived concerns about energy security following the Nord Stream pipeline blasts last year.

According to macroeconomic research consultancy Capital Economics, the combination of events could raise oil prices to levels well above 100 dollars a barrel for some time.

Wholesale natural gas prices rose 12.3 percent in a day, to just under 50 euros per MWh at the Dutch TTF hub.

The Greek government may need to reconsider its decision to end energy subsidies for all consumers. Supply companies may need to hedge prices and factor in the new risk factors. Also, refineries and gas importers may need to secure loads before prices escalate.

With Israel preparing for a ground attack on Gaza, it has become clear that decisions such as the choice of route for Israeli gas exports to Europe; promotion of Israel’s energy cooperation with Greece and Cyprus; and the development of projects such as the Israel-Cyprus-Greece electricity grid interconnection, are, for the time being, not a top priority.

 

PPC chief to take part in Romanian Three Seas meeting

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Greece aims to bolster its geopolitical influence in the Balkans through energy, power utility PPC’s takeover of Italian group ENEL’s Romanian subsidiary ENEL Romania being a key part of this strategy.

In addition to PPC’s takeover of ENEL Romania, Helleniq Energy recently invested in Romania and had been preceded by Mytilineos – both in renewable energy projects.

PPC’s ENEL Romania takeover has prompted an announcement from Romanian president Klaus Iohannis, who named Greece as a new member of The Three Seas, a diplomatic initiative taken by Romania’s political leadership to bring together EU member states and candidates located between the Baltic, Adriatic and Black Seas for collaboration in the fields of energy, infrastructure and the digital economy.

Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine are the other members of The Three Seas initiative.

Iohannis, Romania’s president, will host a two-day meeting in Bucharest on September 6 and 7 for talks on collaboration in these domains. Ministers and entrepreneurs representing the aforementioned countries, including PPC’s chief executive officer Giorgos Stassis, energypress sources have informed, will take part at the upcoming Bucharest meeting.

Romania has become a geopolitical focal point as a result of the country’s close proximity to war-entangled Ukraine. In addition, Bucharest has established a pivotal role as a result of its support of Ukraine in the war with Russia and Moldova’s EU membership quest. Romania has also facilitated the movement of grain across its borders.

Greece’s greenhouse gas emissions down 8.3% in Q1

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Greece’s greenhouse gas emissions fell by 8.3 percent in the first quarter of 2023, the fourth-largest drop in the EU, according to data published by Eurostat.

Bulgaria registered the EU’s biggest greenhouse gas emissions reduction in the first quarter, down 15.2 percent, followed by Estonia (14.7%) and Slovenia (9.6%).

The biggest increases in greenhouse gas emissions were registered by Ireland, up 9.1 percent, Latvia (7.5%) and Slovakia (1.9%).

Overall, the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions fell by 2.9 percent in the first quarter, dropping to 941 million tons from 969 million tons.

Households were the biggest polluters as they were responsible for 24 percent of the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions in the first quarter, followed by the industrial sector (20%), electricity and natural gas sectors (19%), agriculture (13%) and transportation (10%).

EU headed for new impasse on gas price cap agreement

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The EU’s energy ministers appear headed towards another deadlock for a gas price cap agreement at an upcoming council meeting on December 13, which will prove a disappointment for Europeans as prices surge again.

Several EU member states seem to be resisting any sort of compromise for the establishment of a gas price cap level ahead of next week’s meeting of energy ministers, a measure now more urgent than ever before as winter temperatures begin to fall.

Gas prices surged yesterday at the Dutch energy exchange, a European benchmark, reaching 160 euros per MWh before easing to 140 euros per MWh and ending the day at 138 euros per MWh.

Though the prospect of high-priced natural gas is alarming, a price cap agreement does not appear to be a priority for a group of EU member states, led by Germany. Berlin, according to sources, wants the issue deferred until a summit of EU leaders, scheduled for next Thursday, two days after the meeting of EU energy ministers.

This, of course, would be a setback as it was at the previous summit, in October, that EU leaders referred the issue to the Energy Council, asking its members to work on details of an agreement reached by the 27 EU leaders.

Germany, joined by the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark, Estonia and Luxembourg, appears to be insisting on gas price cap at the level initially proposed by the European Commission, 275 euros per MWh, well above the 220-euro proposal forwarded by the Czech Republic, currently holding the EU’s rotating presidency.

Wholesale power up 238% in second quarter, EU’s second-highest rise

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Greece’s wholesale electricity price registered Europe’s second-biggest annual increase in the second quarter of 2022, compared to the equivalent period a year earlier, soaring 238 percent, a new report published by the European Commission has shown.

France topped the list with a 254-percent increase over the same period, while Italy was ranked third-highest, its wholesale electricity price rising 234 percent between the second quarters of 2021 and 2022.

Greece’s 238-percent increase resulted in the country having the third-highest wholesale electricity price in the EU in the second quarter this year, at 237 euros per MWh, behind Malta, at 252 euros per MWh, and Italy, at 249 euros per MWh.

Elsewhere in the EU, Bulgaria’s wholesale electricity price in the second quarter this year was 199.9 euros per MWh, France registered 226.3 euros per MWh, and Germany was at 187.1 euros per MWh, the report showed.

As for industrial energy prices, without taxes, Greece topped the list in the second quarter. Electricity prices for mid-size industrial consumers rose by 194 percent in Greece between the second quarters of 2021 and 2022, to 34.5 cents per KWh, the highest in the EU.

In the household category, Greece’s electricity prices, including taxes and fees, were ranked 10th in the EU, at 30.46 euros per KW/h, above the EU average of 28.62 euros per KW/h, following the second-biggest annual increase, 81 percent, exceeded only by Estonia.

Subsidies were not taken into account for this report. During the energy crisis, Greece has so far offered the highest amount of subsidies as a percentage of GDP.

 

Greece climbs up to 12th place in EU electricity tariff cost rankings

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Greece has climbed seven places, to 12th from 19th, in the EU rankings for retail electricity cost, pushed higher by a government decision reached last year to increase tariffs at state-owned power utility PPC, according to latest Eurostat data.

These tariff hikes at PPC were imposed by the government in August, 2019 to protect the utility from falling into bankruptcy.

The EU rankings concern electricity price levels for household consumption levels between 2,500 to 5,000 kWh, annually.

Electricity tariff increases for households in Greece rose by an average of 8.6 percent in the first half of 2020, compared to the previous half, when the country was ranked 19th.

The first-half tariff price for households averaged € 0.129 per KWh, not including taxes and surcharges, up from €0.1189 per KWh in the second half of 2019.

PPC remains Greece’s dominant supplier, representing 63 percent of electricity consumption.

The PPC tariff increase has made electricity more expensive in Greece than in countries with higher income per capita levels. Electricity is now more expensive in Greece than in France (€ 0.1247 per KWh), Finland (€ 0.1178 per KWh), Spain (€ 0.1178 per KWh) and Sweden (€ 0.1130 per KWh), all with higher income levels. Electricity is also more expensive in Greece than in Portugal (€0.1139 per KWh).

Despite the country’s rankings rise, electricity prices in Greece remain below the EU average (€0.1327 per MWh), a result of the competition generated by independent suppliers, subduing prices.

The biggest electricity tariff decreases in the first half of 2020, compared to the previous six-month period, were recorded by the Netherlands (-31%), Latvia (-12.8%), Slovenia (-11.4%), Sweden (-10%) and Estonia (-8.9%), the Eurostat data showed.