The energy ministry is preparing to scrutinize the wholesale electricity market in search of leeway for cost-cutting measures that could ultimately lead to lower retail electricity prices, ministry officials have told energypress.
This initiative comes following a series of cost-reduction measures prepared for the retail electricity market and set to be introduced.
The ministry intends to conduct a deeper examination of all market factors and tariff charges in an attempt to lower their cost and make them more competitive, energy minister Thodoris Skylakakis noted at a recent conference organized by IENE, the Institute of Energy for Southeast Europe.
The ministry’s effort will place emphasis on reducing Balancing Market costs by limiting quantities that need to be activated.
The Balancing Market is a mechanism ensuring that electricity supply matches demand in real-time. By optimizing the activation of balancing quantities, it is possible to enhance the efficiency of the market and potentially reduce associated costs.
The ministry’s series of retail electricity market cost-cutting measures, already prepared, include stricter rules to counter electricity theft; consumers switching suppliers despite owing overdue amounts at previous suppliers; and imposing limits to the country’s universal electricity supply service, offered, by law, by the top five suppliers as a last-resort solution to black-listed household and business consumers who have been shunned by suppliers over payment failures. The majority of consumers moving on to this service continue to not pay for electricity supply.