outage

RAE to approve compensation plan for outage-affected users

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RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, is expected to finalize a proposal this week for the country’s first ever framework offering compensation to electricity users affected by lengthy power cuts as a result of extreme weather conditions.

According to sources, RAE officials could approve the authority’s proposal for a compensation package at a plenary session tomorrow, bringing the framework a step closer to being legislated.

As previously reported by energypress, distribution network operator DEDDIE/HEDNO will be responsible for the compensation system.

Compensation amounts to be paid out to affected electricity users will be many times over their distribution network fee payments, but will not exceed 2,000 euros, sources have informed.

Also, compensation payments will be limited to lengthy power disruptions, defined as over 72 hours long, and to areas with up to one million power meters.

During consultation staged last December, DEDDIE/HEDNO officials noted the operator faces challenges to swiftly repair network faults as a result of a lack of automated systems that enable instant identification of grid spots experiencing issues.

Compensation rules nearing for outage-affected electricity users

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Local authorities working on the country’s first ever framework offering compensation to electricity users affected by lengthy power cuts as a result of extreme weather conditions are edging closer towards finalizing their plan and forwarding it for approval.

RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, the entity working on the compensation plan, is expected to finalize its proposal next week, sources have informed.

Distribution network operator DEDDIE/HEDNO will be held accountable for damages to electricity users caused by lengthy power disruptions, defined as over 72 hours long, according to the rules being prepared.

However, the compensation package will be limited to areas with up to one million power meters. This restriction excludes Athens, whose population is estimated at 3.1 million, from the compensation package.

Compensation amounts will be many times over distribution network fees paid by electricity users but will not exceed 2,000 euros, the sources informed.

This set of rules was proposed by DEDDIE/HEDNO in consultation staged last December. During this procedure, the operator had pointed out that it faces challenges to swiftly repair network faults as a result of a lack of equipment for identifying points where supply has been cut.

The operator, during this consultation procedure, also made note of the country’s low percentage of underground power lines, just 11 percent of the 240,000-km total, exposing most of the grid to the threat of damages and outages during adverse weather conditions.

The need for a compensation package covering electricity users arose following network damages that impacted numerous households and businesses during extreme weather events in recent times.

 

Outage compensation today, 2 or 4-month surcharge removal

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The details of compensation to be offered to many thousands of consumers affected by power outages during and following last week’s snowstorm, particularly felt in the wider Athens area’s northeastern section, are expected to be announced today.

The removal of network usage surcharges included on electricity bills, for either two or four months, is seen as the likeliest offer.

The network usage surcharge imposed on limited electricity consumption of 1,000 kWh over a four-month period, for example, is estimated at 22 euros. A higher consumption level of 3,000 kWh would result in a network usage surcharge of 48 euros.

The compensation offer was initially planned to be announced yesterday, but related talks between the energy ministry and distribution network operator DEDDIE/HEDNO stretched late into the night. Officials are believed to have deliberated on whether to scrap network usage surcharges, for affected consumers, for two or four months.

Approximately 200,000 people in 40 municipalities of the wider Athens area were impacted by the outages during the snowstorm, while electricity supply was restored in 97.5 percent of all cases 24 hours later, according to data submitted to parliament by energy minister Kostas Skrekas.

Athens outage risk still high as fires burn close to key facility

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Authorities remain on edge as the southern front of a fire in Kryoneri, northeast of Athens, could impact a pivotal high-voltage facility in the nearby Agios Stefanos area and severely lessen power supply throughout the capital.

Should the Agios Stefanos unit be damaged by the fires, the wider Athens area will fully depend on another facility, Koumoundourou, for power supply, but it would not suffice to cover electricity demand for the entire city.

Three key grid circuits in Athens are functioning, preventing extensive power outages or scheduled regional disruptions, but the Kryoneri fire is keeping power grid operator IPTO on alert, sources at the operator have informed in a latest update provided today.

Athens has faced elevated power-outage risk this week amid the persisting heatwave conditions. Generation has been sufficient to cover extraordinarily high electricity demand, but fires north of the capital regained momentum yesterday, raising fears of infrastructure damage and prompting authorities to evacuate towns.

Windy weather forecast for today, following numerous days of extreme heat, adds to the challenge as fires could spread.

The directions the fires could take, if they are not subdued, will determine whether authorities will implement a schedule disrupting electricity supply in specific regions to ease the pressure on the grid.

Over fifty fire fronts were burning in various parts of the country late last night.

 

Operator on standby to restart old power stations on Cyclades

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Authorities taking part in a national energy control center emergency meeting yesterday placed the Cyclades islands on red alert as electricity supply to the region was threatened by an extensive fire that broke out in Varybobi, north of Athens.

Power supply to Syros, Paros, Naxos, Mykonos, Tinos and Andros was pressured by the Varybobi fire as these islands are linked to the mainland grid via a subsea cable beginning from coastal Lavrio, southeast of Athens.

The Varybobi fire burnt late into the night but is now reported to have been brought under control by firefighters as four of five fronts have been extinguished. At least 80 houses are reported to have been burnt in the fire. No human casualties have been reported.

The fire-related collapse of two of three key power lines brought the Cyclades, as well as Athens, to the brink of an extensive power outage. Tourism activity is currently high in the Cyclades.

Officials at yesterday’s national energy control center emergency meeting decided to send distribution network operator DEDDIE/HEDNO technicians out to Syros, Paros, Mykonos and Andros, ordering them to restart local diesel-fired power units if supply from Athens is cut.

These units have been sidelined as a result of the subsea cable connections developed to link the islands with the mainland grid.

Late in June, RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, taking into account the extreme weather conditions, grid pressure, as well as the large number of tourists on the islands, had approved a DEDDIE/HEDNO application for the installation of a generator on Santorini for additional generation in case the existing facility on the island falls short of electricity demand. DEDDIE/HEDNO had estimated a possible 8-MW deficit.

 

Narrow power outage escape for Athens as fire damages key lines

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The wider Athens area’s grid remains on red alert today after the capital narrowly escaped a widespread power outage yesterday following a return to service, a little after midnight, of power grid operator lines, while, in another encouraging development, winds are gaining momentum, boosting wind energy output.

The worst fears may be over but, even so, there is no capacity for complacency for as long as the extensive fires north of Athens, in the Varybobi area, keep burning.

For hours last night, Athens was on the brink of a general blackout as this fire disconnected two of three lines linking the city’s east and west. An extensive power outage, all over the city, would have been inevitable had the third line been damaged.

At 9pm last night, power supply for a big section of the city was provided through the one unaffected line. A change of wind direction helped keep the fire at a distance from this line, whose disruption would have cut power supply for millions.

Any remaining threat of an extensive power outage in Athens will be quelled once the Varybobi fire is brought under full control.

Athens, Peloponnese power supply reinstated after fire damage

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Power supply to Athens and Peloponnese areas affected late last night by a fire that broke out at a key grid facility west of Athens, in the Aspropyrgos area, was swiftly reinstated after power grid operator IPTO technicians along with distribution network operator DEDDIE/HEDNO crews took action to repair damages at the grid facility.

Earlier today, the ministry assured that the environment had not been impacted after a team of environmental authorities visited the fire-damaged facility in Aspropyrgos to measure the amount of pollution in the air.

Electricity supply to Athens areas was mostly reinstated within 40 minutes while power transmission to the Peloponnese was back within 55 minutes.

The cause of the fire at the Aspropyrgos power facility is still being investigated.

Central Athens, suburbs in the west and south, as well as areas on the capital’s western outskirts, all experienced blackouts late Sunday night. In the Peloponnese, Corinth, Nafplio, Tripoli, Sparta and Kalamata were all affected. Three islands close to Athens, Aegina, Poros and Agistri, also had their electricity supply cut.

DEDDIE/HEDNO crews are still working intensively to reinstate medium-voltage supply at isolated locations in the areas that were affected.