RAAEY, the Regulatory Authority for Waste, Energy and Water, is scrutinizing the operating costs of all TSOs in Greece with the aim of limiting these costs to the absolute essentials and, by extension, contain, as much as possible, expenses relayed to consumers through regulated surcharges on electricity and natural gas bills.

The authority’s initiative echoes an effort being made by the energy ministry to restrict, to the greatest degree possible, energy costs for households and enterprises.

As part of the effort, a new retail electricity tariff system simplifying price comparisons of variable and fixed tariff options for consumers, as a means of intensifying competition between suppliers and subduing prices, was launched January 1.

Though capital expenditure of TSOs infiltrates energy bills, its benefits can be expected to eventually lead to lower energy costs for consumers in the medium term. However, this is not the case with operating costs which, one way or another, could either be avoided or covered by operator profit.