retail electricity market

Competition committee staging retail electricity market inquiry

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The country’s competition committee is conducting a market inquiry that requires all electricity retailers, 18 in total, to respond to an extensive series of questions concerning their low-voltage supply activities by the beginning of the new year.

The committee questions include questions on company revenues generated by low-voltage sales during 2020 and 2021, for all consumer categories, namely households and small businesses.

The companies have also been requested to provide details on low-voltage products offered, fixed-tariff offers, frequency of tariff revisions, as well as the average life of new products offered.

A number of questions also concern details on tariff adjustment clauses applied by suppliers to electricity bills.

The inquiry does not presume suppliers have been engaged in non-competitive practices, the competition committee has pointed out.

 

PPC’s returning customers still rising, up 44% in November

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The number of customers returning to power utility PPC continued to grow in November,  7,500 customers leaving independent suppliers for the switch, a 44 percent increase compared to a month earlier, when 5,200 customers returned to the power utility.

Despite the rising number of customers returning to PPC, the outflow to independent suppliers still remains greater, meaning the power utility’s customer base is shrinking, but at a slower rate.

According to data covering the market from January through November, approximately 29,800 customers left independent suppliers to return to PPC, nearly fivefold the figure registered for the equivalent period last year, or 490 percent higher.

It remains unclear if December will produce a similar pattern. PPC, since the beginning of the month, has introduced a fixed-tariff offer of 18 cents per KWh (17 cents per KWh for online applications).

PPC chief executive Giorgos Stassis recently denied that competition in Greece’s electricity market is eroding. He stressed the market has been fully liberalized, noting the power utility’s retail market share will gradually fall to nearly 50 percent over the next few years.

 

PPC cuts operator, contractor debt by €800m in 2 years

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Power utility PPC has settled most of its outstanding debt owed to operators and contractors, reducing the amount from 900 million euros in 2019 to 70 million euros at present, the figure with which the corporation expects to end the year, energypress sources have informed.

During the country’s ten-year recession, prior to the pandemic, PPC’s debt owed to operators and contractors had peaked at nearly one billion euros.

The corporation now owes 50 million euros to contractors and 20 million euros to the three market operators – DAPEEP, the RES market operator; IPTO, the power grid operator; and DEDDIE/HEDNO, the distribution network operator – latest company data has shown, the sources noted.

Besides benefitting PPC, which, for years, was embroiled in a series of legal battles with operators, contractors and equipment suppliers, the debt reduction is also helping offer market stability.

Other suppliers have had difficulties keeping up with payments to operators during the energy crisis and its narrower profit margins. If PPC, the dominant supplier, was also delaying its payments to operators at present, the energy market may have been in an unstable condition.

The total amount currently owed by electricity suppliers to the market operators is estimated at 350 million euros, making PPC’s 20 million-euro owed just a fraction of the sum.

 

PPC 300% increase in returning customers, outflow still bigger

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The number of customers returning to power utility PPC in October increased by more than 300 percent compared to May, but the company is still losing more customers than it is gaining, latest market data obtained by energypress has shown.

PPC gained 5,200 new customers in October, compared to 1,350 five months earlier, the data showed. If the wave of PPC’s returning customers continues to swell, the inflow of customers will eventually exceed the outflow.

Recent data made available by distribution network operator DEDDIE/HEDNO backs this trend as the operator’s figures showed that PPC lost 47,000 low-voltage connections between the second and third quarters, well below the 71,000 lost between the first and second quarters.

PPC represented 5.06 million low-voltage connections in September, a 74.2 percent market share, according to the DEDDIE/HEDNO data.

Among the independent suppliers, representing an overall 1.61 million low-voltage connections in September for a 23.6 percent share, Protergia, a member of the Mytilineos group, was at the forefront with a 4.07 percent share, or 277,000 customers, followed by Elpedison, with 3.75% and 256,000 connections, and Heron with 232,000 connections and a 3.41 percent share.

 

Electricity prices could be driven further 13% higher in December

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Latest complications in the licensing procedure for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline running directly from Russia to Germany through the North Sea, as well as the EU’s deteriorated ties ties with Belarus, key transit territory for Russian gas entering the EU via Poland, appear set to push electricity price levels even higher in coming weeks.

Wholesale electricity in Greece averaged a price of 221 euros per MWh in the first half of November, up from 198 euros per MWh for October, overall.

If current conditions do not improve, suppliers estimate that retail electricity prices will reach nearly 300 euros per MWh in December, up 13 percent from the current November level of 265 euros per MWh.

Market players are being pushed to the edge. Some suppliers are waging survival battles, others are seeking to appease unsettled customers through campaigns offering energy-efficiency tips, while others are seeing their market strategies overrun by the continual flow of unfavorable developments.

Greek government officials are also jittery, realizing that household electricity subsidies of 39 euros per month offered for November and December for the first 300 KWh of consumption will not be enough.

 

 

EU energy ministers to discuss consumer protection measures

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EU energy ministers plan to discuss the alarming increase in energy prices on October 6 at a session expected to take into consideration a proposal made by Greek energy minister Kostas Skrekas for a temporary hedging mechanism that would be linked to the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) as a means of protecting consumers against the overall energy cost ascent, caused by a combination of unfavorable factors, internationally.

Higher energy costs, which have energy consumers, including industrial, bracing for a challenging winter, will also be a key issue at a EU Summit meeting on October 21 and 22.

Natural gas prices yesterday climbed to 85 euros per MWh, several times over levels registered earlier in the year, oil prices exceeded 80 dollars per barrel, and CO2 emission rights, on a record-breaking streak, reached 62 euros per ton.

Besides these price rises, energy sufficiency issues are also beginning to emerge around Europe, as well as in China, for a variety of reasons.

In Greece, the combination of higher prices for primary and secondary materials, greater transportation costs, given the country’s location on the edge of Europe, plus the increase in energy prices, threatens to paralyze the industrial sector.

The country’s energy-intensive consumers are calling for a revision to supply rules. In the domestic retail electricity market, suppliers are being forces to revise prices. Some have so far resisted but are battling against narrowing profit margins. Customer shifts by disgruntled customers are already being observed.

 

PPC attachment to gov’t power cost measures angers rivals

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The country’s independent electricity suppliers have deemed as necessary government support measures just announced to help combat rising wholesale, and by extension retail, electricity prices pushed up by a combination of unfavorable factors in international markets, but, even so, feel betrayed by the manner in which these measures were presented, perceived as an indirect boost for the state-run power utility PPC.

Officials at independent electricity supply companies, in comments to energypress, pointed out that PPC was incorporated into the government’s announcement for support measures, creating an impression that the dominant player’s pricing policy is a part of the government measures for lower-cost electricity. In other words, PPC was made to look as if it is providing social policy on behalf of the government, the independent supply company officials protested.

This ultimately sends out a message promising consumers protection and lower-cost electricity at PPC, marring the image of independent players as relentless, profit-seeking enterprises, the representatives complained.

Such initiatives threaten to confuse consumers and stifle market competition, the representatives added.

 

PPC retail market share remains high, 64.37% in August

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Power utility PPC’s retail electricity market share remains high, capturing 64.37 percent in August, down slightly from the previous month’s 65.25 percent, a latest report issued by the Greek energy exchange has shown.

The slight contraction does not represent a wider change in the overall market, but, instead, has been attributed to a market share gain by one supplier, Elpedison, a joint venture involving petroleum group ELPE (Hellenic Petroleum) and Italy’s Edison, following ELPE’s decision to stop receiving high-voltage electricity from PPC for supply from Elpedison. As a result, Elpedison’s retail electricity market share increased to 5.69 percent from 4.44 percent, placing the company in third place among the independent electricity suppliers.

PPC has essentially maintained recent market share gains in the retail market’s low and medium-voltage categories following power bill hikes made by independent suppliers as a result of their decisions to trigger wholesale cost-related clauses included in their electricity bills.

The entire field of independent electricity suppliers increased their overall share to 35.63 percent in August from 34.75 percent in July.

Protergia, a member of the Mytilineos group, led the pack of independent suppliers with a 7.67 percent market share in August, marginally below July’s 7.85 percent. Heron followed in second place with 6.4 percent in August from 6.77 percent in July and Elpedison was ranked third with aforementioned figures. NRG ranked fourth with 4.42 percent from 4.26 percent, while Watt and Volt was ranked fifth with an unchanged market share of 2.67 percent. Volterra was sixth with 2.05 percent from 2.07 percent, Fysiko Aerio Attikis seventh with 1.87 percent from 1.94 percent, Zenith eighth with 1.56 percent from 1.55 percent, Volton ninth with 1.46 percent from 1.43 percent and KEN tenth with 0.75 percent, unchanged from July to August.

Industrial consumers support RAE action for retail market revisions

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EVIKEN, the Association of Industrial Energy Consumers, has, in public consultation staged by RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, backed the authority’s initiative for prospective revisions to retail electricity rules, noting competition is being affected by coordinated actions from suppliers.

In its letter submitted to the public consultation procedure, EVIKEN reminds that it has called for decisive intervention by RAE, noting that the supply market, in the absence of fundamental conditions fostering competition – a situation for which vertically integrated energy companies, especially private sector companies, are responsible – can be characterized by coordinated practices that aim to fully transfer to customers price risks entailed in day-ahead and balancing markets.

EVIKEN, in its letter, demanded data illustrating the number of days over the past two months when electricity production technologies (lignite, natural gas, hydropower and imports) determined prices in the day-ahead market.

PPC loss of low-voltage customers slows down in 2Q

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Data for the year’s second quarter has shown a slowdown in power utility PPC’s market share contraction rate in the low voltage category.

PPC’s reduced loss of customers in the second quarter has been primarily attributed to the utility’s modernized commercial policy and a more focused marketing strategy.

Between April and June, a total of 68,000 households and small businesses, a monthly average of just over 22,000, left PPC for other electricity suppliers, down from a monthy exit rate of between 30,000 and 35,000 over the past year and a half.

The higher exit rate of PPC customers was maintained until the end of the first quarter, when 103,000 customers left the utility over the three-month period.

PPC represented 5.1 million of the country’s 6.6 million low-voltage connections around the country in the second quarter, a 75.1 percent share.

Low-voltage customers represented by independent electricity suppliers reached the level of 1.5 million for the first time.

Among the independent suppliers, Protergia, a member of the Mytilineos group, was at the forefront, according to second quarter data, with a 3.94 percent share, followed by Elpedison (3.67%), Heron (3.32%), Watt & Volt (2.6%), Zenith (2.48%), Volton (1.75%), NRG (1.99%), Aerio Attikis (1.5%) and Volterra (0.57%).

PPC industrial supply deals last act ahead of market share dive

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Power utility PPC’s latest supply agreements with industrial consumers, finalized just days ago with steel producer Viohalco, Titan cement and building materials group, as well as all other industrial players, following a preceding deal with Aluminium of Greece, a member of the Mytilineos group, represent, barring unexpected developments, the final act ahead of major market changes that will dramatically reduce the utility’s market share beyond December 31, 2023, when these new high-voltage supply agreements expire.

They are PPC’s last industrial supply agreements offering fixed tariffs. As of 2024, PPC will offer indexed tariff prices that will be pegged to the wholesale electricity market’s monthly clearing price in the day-ahead market.

This change will most likely prompt industrial consumers to seek alternative electricity supply solutions.

Aluminium of Greece has already done so, as it plans to receive electricity from the Mytilineos group’s new natural gas-fired power plant being developed in the Agios Nikolaos industrial zone in Viotia’s Agios Nikolaos area, northwest of Athens, to be direct cable-linked to the Aluminium of Greece facility, as well as through RES production, ending a 60-year association with PPC.

At present, PPC sells an annual electricity amount of between 63 to 64 TWh, of which approximately 5 TWh concern high-voltage electricity. If energy-intensive consumers leave PPC from 2024 onwards, to avoid indexed tariffs, the utility’s electricity sales will drop to between 58 and 59 TWh, and, by extension, its retail market share will contract to about 50 percent from 64 percent at present.

This is the state-controlled utility’s aim as an evenly divided electricity market in which PPC will hold a market share of about 50 percent and the independent suppliers the other 50 percent will end the DG Comp’s frequent interventions over the utility’s excessive retail market share.

The energy ministry is aiming for green-energy power purchase agreements (PPAs) to cover 20 percent of industrial electricity demand by next year.

 

Second market test launched for PPC lignite power packages

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The European Commission has launched a second and revised market test to measure the level of interest of independent suppliers in power utility PPC’s lignite-generated electricity packages.

Suppliers have received a questionnaire as part of the procedure, staged following a subdued response to a first test in which participants more or less wrote off PPC lignite-generated electricity packages as a measure that could intensify competition in the electricity market. Participants have until July 14 to forward their responses.

A final antitrust agreement was reached at a mid-May meeting in Athens between energy minister Kostas Skrekas and the European Commission’s Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, also Brussel’s Commissioner for Competition.

Some revisions have been introduced to the lignite-based electricity package solution now being tested. The PPC packages would be offered through the energy exchange futures market, not through bilateral contracts with independent suppliers, as was originally proposed.

A second important revision concerns the pricing formula for these packages. It will now be determined through direct negotiation between the buyer and PPC through the futures market, without a market prices floor. Under the previous model, the price of the packages was based on the wholesale price minus a discount.

According to sources, the mechanism offering lignite electricity packages will remain valid until December, 2024, or, otherwise, will expire as soon as the country’s final lignite-fired power station has been withdrawn, if this precedes the aforementioned date.

Given these dates, the output of PPC’s Ptolemaida V, expected to be launched in 2023, initially as a lignite-fired unit before it converts to gas in 2026, will contribute to the lignite electricity packages.

PPC seeking to combine market share loss with hold of good customers

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Power utility PPC is preparing to implement a new and aggressive pricing policy whose aim will be to combine a retail market share contraction with the maintenance of reliable customers.

“PPC will lose a share of the market, down to 50 percent from 70 percent, but we aim to keep hold of the good customers,” the power utility’s chief executive Giorgos Stassis has told a general shareholders’ meeting.

A competitive market cannot function properly with the dominant player holding a 70 percent share of supply, the PPC boss noted.

According to a 2021-2023 business plan presented by the chief executive last December, PPC expects to lose approximately 1.4 million customers, reducing the company’s market share to 54 percent by 2023.

Besides holding on to its reliable customers, PPC will also seek to lure punctual customers from rival suppliers.

As part of the effort, PPC is preparing to market a range of new products, including for business-category customers.

PPC, which revised its corporate statute just weeks ago, is also expected to introduce energy-efficiency and PV net-metering services, domains offering tremendous growth potential, noted Stassis, the chief executive.

The company is also modernizing its retail outlets, changes including the development of self-service outlets, the CEO told shareholders.

PPC has already launched new-look outlets in the capital’s Maroussi and Kallithea districts, while further launches, part of the effort to keep reliable customers, are expected early July.

Gas, CO2 costs, up over 50%, increasing electricity prices

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The pandemic’s gradual remission and tougher climate-change policies have ushered in a period of elevated electricity price levels, both in Greece and internationally, expected to be prolonged, according to many analysts.

Suppliers, one after another, are increasing prices for household and business consumption, passing on to consumers additional costs encountered in the wholesale market through the activation of price-related clauses.

According to Greek energy exchange data, day-ahead market prices currently range between 78 and 80 euros per MWh, nearly double the level of 45 euros per MWh at the beginning of the year.

Similar price increases of about 50 percent have also been recorded in markets abroad during the first half of the year.

Electricity producers operating natural-gas fueled power stations have been impacted by higher gas prices, data provided by the Dutch trading platform TTF has highlighted.

Electricity producers also face considerably higher CO2 emission right prices, currently ranging between 52 and 55 euros per ton from 32 to 34 euros per MWh early this year.

According to many analysts, CO2 emission right prices will continue rising in the years to come and may have doubled by 2030.

Higher natural gas and CO2 emission right prices are impacting electricity producers generating through natural gas-fired power stations. They are required to pay for CO2 emission rights, one-third of levels imposed on lignite-based producers.

Experts agree that toughening EU climate-change measures, to be followed by corresponding US polices, will keep driving energy commodities higher, noting that oil and gas price rises will be subdued as low-cost, cleaner forms of energy further penetrate markets.

 

Independent players gain 100,000 low-voltage customers, overall, in 1Q

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Independent electricity suppliers increased their total number of low-voltage consumers represented by 100,000 in the first quarter this year, compared to a 4Q in 2020, in a category totaling 6.79 million consumers, latest data provided by distribution network operator DEDDIE/HEDNO has shown.

Power utility PPC’s share in this market slipped to 76.28 percent from 77.8 percent during the period, for a low-voltage representation totaling 5.1 million customers.

Protergia, which gained approximately 11,000 low-voltage customers during the period, is the frontrunner among the independent players with a 3.8 percent low-voltage market share, representing 255,000 consumers, the operator’s data showed.

Elpedison followed with a market share of 3.58 percent, or 250,000 customers, up by 9,500, and Heron was ranked third among the independent suppliers with 3.12 percent, or 211,000 customers, up by 15,000.

Watt & Volt was ranked fourth (2.56%), gaining 3,400 customers for a total of 173,000. Zenith followed in fifth place with a 2.27 percent share and 154,000 customers, up 17,000.

NRG was next with 1.72 percent and 116,000 customers, followed by Volton, capturing 1,68 percent, or 114,00 customers, and Fysiko Aerio, with 1.34 percent and 90,000 customers.

 

Consumers returning to PPC, led by wholesale-linked hikes

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Higher wholesale electricity prices, prompting independent suppliers to activate wholesale-cost clauses included in their supply agreements to avoid losses, are tightening up the market by leading disappointed consumers back to the power utility PPC, a clear regression in the effort to establish a broader, more competitive field of players, latest data has indicated.

Consumers opting to leave independent suppliers and return to PPC rose by 56 percent in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the equivalent period a year earlier, market data obtained by energypress has shown.

The number of consumers leaving independent suppliers for any other supplier increased by approximately 40 percent in the first quarter of 2020, the data showed.

This increase in consumer returns to PPC is expected to be reflected in forthcoming market-share data, market officials believe.

Last year, the wholesale market price, represented, at the time, as the system marginal price, ended April last year at 38.02 euros per MWh, whereas this year, in the form of the recently launched target model’s day-ahead market, the wholesale price in April has exceeded 63 euros per MWh.

Increased CO2 emission right costs and elevated TTF and Brent prices are factors that have driven wholesale electricity prices higher. So, too, are higher balancing costs, currently more than double levels of previous years.

Wholesale electricity prices for the next twelve months are seen averaging 89 euros per MWh in the low-voltage category and 79-80 euros per MWh in the medium-voltage category.

PPC, which has never achieved its commitment to lower its market share to less than 50 percent, is offering customers significant discounts at below cost, and, as a result, hampering the market liberalization process and further narrowing the profit margins of independent suppliers, a prominent market official has told energypress.

RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, has the authority and responsibility to take action against suppliers selling electricity at  below cost and protect consumers against misleading offers, the official added.

Electricity market shares unchanged in March, imports up

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The overall market share of independent electricity suppliers remained unchanged at 34.2 percent in March, without any surprise reshuffling between these suppliers, as power utility PPC held on firmly to its previous month’s 65.8 percent share, a latest monthly report issued by the Greek energy exchange has shown.

Like PPC, the market shares of some independent suppliers remained unchanged in March, compared to the previous month, the report showed.

Mytilineos registered a 7.97 percent market share in March, unchanged from February.

Heron’s market share fell marginally to 6.34 percent in March from 6.38 percent in February; Elpedison’s market share rose to 4.85 percent from 4.79 percent; NRG captured 4 percent, up from 3.89 percent; Watt and Volt fell to 2.58 percent from 2.73 percent; Volterra registered 1.93 percent, from 1.96 percent; Fysiko Aerio Attikis rose to 1.81 percent from 1.75 percent; Volton captured 1.41 percent, from 1.39 percent; Zenith reached 1.41 percent, from 1.36 percent; ELTA’s market share remained unchanged at 0.63 percent; and KEN fell slightly to 0.56 percent from 0.58 percent.

Electricity imports exceeded electricity exports, in terms of volume, the energy exchange report showed.

Also, the number of hours of net imports grew against the number of hours of net exports, the data for March showed.

Barriers, restrictions affecting power, gas market liberalization

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Greece’s retail electricity and gas markets are moving towards full liberalization, but, in the course, needing to overcome major barriers and restrictions, a European Commission report for 2020 has highlighted.

Despite the progress made, obstacles in four key areas continue to obstruct the entry of new players in the country’s electricity and gas markets, the report noted.

Disincentives of regulatory nature, market inequalities, entrepreneurial and procedural barriers, as well as customer inaction were identified as the four key areas that need to be dealt with if full liberalization of the electricity and gas markets is to be achieved, the report found.

On the regulatory front, proposals offered by the European Commission focus on the need for a consistent framework offering long-term stability and security for market players.

Market surveillance and monitoring by authorities needs to be effective and accurate to prevent unfair competition behavior by market players, it added.

On market entry, the report recommends actions that would enhance the procedure’s reliability and uniformity.

As for customer immobility, signifying a market still not fully mature, the European Commission report proposes the provision of improved information to customers before supply agreements are signed, greater transparency, better price-comparing ability, as well as mechanisms protecting consumers against unprincipled actions by suppliers.

PPC loses 96,000 low-voltage connections in 3 months

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Approximately 96,000 low-voltage consumers left power utility PPC for rival suppliers over a three-month period between April and June, 2020, market data released by distribution network operator DEDDIE/HEDNO has shown.

PPC is losing low-voltage connections at a rate of between 30,000 and 40,000 per month, the data showed.

In the third quarter last year, the power utility shed 2.4 percent of its 81.03 percent market share held in 2Q. This loss of PPC customers led to market share gains for all the independent players, the top five enjoying the biggest gains.

A total of 1.38 million low-voltage consumers had switched from PPC to independent suppliers by the end of the third quarter last year, the data showed. This essentially means that PPC was serving 5.39 million low-voltage consumers at the end of the third quarter.

Independent supplier Protergia, a member of the Mytilineos group, ranked first among the independent players in 3Q last year with a market share of 3.36 percent and 228,000 supply connections, the data showed.

Elpedison followed closely behind with a 3.24 percent share and 220,000 supply connections. Heron was ranked third among the independent players with a 2.63 percent share and 178,000 supply connections, followed by Watt & Volt with a 2.39 percent market share and 160,000 connections.

The DEDDIE/HEDNO also showed a large transfer of low-voltage consumers to the universal supply service offered by suppliers, by law, at higher tariffs, to households blacklisted for unpaid electricity bills.

A total of 146,000 universal service connections were recorded in 3Q last year. The market’s top five suppliers are required to offer this universal service to sidelined households.

PPC gains 3% in retail market for November share of 66.3%

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Power utility PPC, the retail electricity market leader, gained an entire three percentage points in November, capturing a 66.33 percent share, up from 63.2 percent a month earlier, according to a latest energy exchange report.

The rankings among the market’s independent suppliers remained unchanged but minor market share gains and losses were reported for the month.

Protergia, a member of the Mytilineos group, shed over half a percentage point, dropping from 8.6 percent in October to 7.99 percent in November, but remained at the forefront among the independent suppliers.

Second-placed Heron also retreated slightly, to 6.55 percent in November from 6.97 percent in October, as did Elpedison, ranked third, to 4.67 percent from 5.05 percent.

Next in the rankings, NRG’s market share remained virtually unchanged, ending November at 3.37 percent from 3.38 percent in October.

Watt+Volt followed with a 2.69 share of the retail electricity market, up marginally from 2.67 percent, Volterra was next with 2.37 percent from 2.55 percent, Fysiko Aerio (Attiki GSC) made a slight gain to reach 1.61 percent from 1.48 percent, Zenith upped its share to 1.26 percent from 1.19 percent, Volton improved to 1.13 percent from 1.04 percent, and KEN remained virtually unchanged, at 0.59 percent from 0.6 percent.

Electricity exports increased and imports decreased in November, compared to a month earlier, the energy exchange data showed.

PPC’s business plan for 2021 to 2023 projects a reduction in customers from 6.1 million, last September, to 4.7 million, for a market share of 54 percent.

EU directive for electricity market to bring about changes

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Legislation of an EU directive from 2019 concerning electricity market regulations, whose features include establishing consumers as active players through an ability to sell self-produced electricity, and also providing the framework governing smart meter systems, is expected to be one of the energy ministry’s first legislative acts, if not first, in the new year, within the first two months.

Energy minister Costis Hatzidakis has assembled a team of lawmakers to adopt the EU directive as Greek law.

Active consumers selling their electricity output will be able to do so directly, on an individual basis, or through accumulated group representation.

Consumers will also be able to participate in, and benefit from,  flexibility and energy efficiency programs.

In addition, the new rules will enable active consumers to give third parties management rights – without any further powers – over related system installation, operation, maintenance and data management.

Other changes to result from the new rules include giving consumers active pricing policy rights through which agreements between supplier and consumer will reflect fluctuations in the electricity market, including the day-ahead and intraday markets.

Electricity consumer switches reach 285,000 in first half

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A total of 285,000 households switched electricity supplier in the first half of 2020, while less than one in eight have made the shift over the past five years, retail electricity market data made available to energypress has shown.

Since 2015, when the retail electricity market was essentially liberalized, 986,000 consumers of 7.58 million in total have switched electricity suppliers, the data showed.

This slow movement has kept power utility PPC’s retail electricity market share at relatively high levels. The corporation held a 67.61 percent share at the end of August, the data showed.

Customers who have taken the decision to switch to independent suppliers have also displayed strong loyalty. Just 144,000 electricity consumers have moved on for a second time during the five past years, according to the data.

Of the 285,000 consumers who switched suppliers in the first half, 208,000 left PPC, while nearly 35,000 ended up with a universal supply service provided by the market’s top five suppliers, at higher tariff rates, to households and small businesses rejected by their regular suppliers for unpaid bills.

 

Retail power prices among EU’s lowest, wholesale prices high

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Retail electricity prices in Greece, during the second half of 2019, were among the lowest in the EU, while the country registered the second biggest drop in household electricity cost, down by 5.8 percent during this period, compared to the EU average of a 1.3 percent increase, according to official Eurostat data.

However, Greece’s wholesale price level, or more specifically, day-ahead market price, is one of the highest in south and southeast Europe.

The cost of electricity for households in Greece averaged 155 euros per MWh in the first half of 2019, compared to the EU average of 216 euros per MWh, the Eurostat data showed. The cost of electricity in Greece, including taxes and surcharges, was ranked 21st among the EU-27.

The cost of electricity for enterprises in Greece was below the EU average, placing Greece in 12th place with an average price of 108 euros per MWh compared to the EU’s 117 euros per MWh in the first half of 2019, the Eurostat data showed.

A recent study conducted by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Energy showed that Greece’s day-ahead market price averaged 41 euros per MWh in the first half of 2019, well over the average of 34 euros per MWh in south and southeast Europe.

Market officials attributed this discrepancy to Greece possessing just a day-ahead market, forcing all electricity amounts to be channeled through this one market. In other parts of the EU, wholesale electricity markets also feature intra-day, forward, balancing reserve and capacity markets. As a result, electricity producers and importers operating elsewhere also retrieve costs from other markets, which is not possible in Greece.

Industrial slowdown seen impacting electricity demand

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Electricity consumption level forecasts are bleak as the coronavirus pandemic is now also impacting the country’s energy-intensive industrial sector after devastating the economy’s tourism and retail sectors.

The widening problem will inevitably affect overall demand and the financial results of retail electricity suppliers.

A number of industrial enterprises have suspended their operations. These include steel company Sidenor, which has put a halt on production at five units, as well as four textile firms.

More industrial companies are likely to follow suit as the ongoing lockdown keeps much economic activity grounded. As a result, overall electricity demand is expected to drop considerably over the next few months.

The pandemic’s impact on low-voltage electricity demand has, for the time being, remained subdued. Considerably lower consumption levels in the retail and trade sectors have been offset by higher household demand driven by the government’s stay-at-home orders.

Low-voltage electricity demand in March fell by a level of between one and two percent, according to power grid operator IPTO sources. A sharper decline of approximately five percent is expected in April.

However, sharper drops over the next few months cannot be ruled out, as has been the case in other parts of Europe.

In recent weeks, electricity demand in Italy was down by 20 percent. Belgium recorded a drop of 17 percent, French electricity demand fell by 12 percent and Spain’s drop registered at 10 percent.

 

 

RAE, monitoring market, wants weekly updates from suppliers

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RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, carefully monitoring the energy market in an effort to offer protection against wider repercussions amid the extraordinary conditions, has requested weekly updates from all the country’s electricity suppliers on their unpaid receivables figures and relay of surcharge collections to distribution network operator DEDDIE/HEDNO and power grid operator IPTO, sources have informed.

Suppliers are now receiving letters carrying related instructions. RAE, in an unprecedented move, is requesting details on a variety of matters, which, besides unpaid receivables figures and payment delay periods, include requests for number of customers and energy amounts consumed as well as amounts received for electricity consumption and surcharges.

RAE will use the data collected to offer suppliers greater flexibility for payment of regulated charges. This is expected to include an extension of the current 30-day period to 60 days.

“Any such decision in the electricity market is difficult as it involves tens of millions of euros and has consequences. Therefore, decisions cannot be made without documentation and putting figures into context with actual market data,” a highly ranked RAE official told energypress. “From the data we collect from suppliers, we will see what the urgent needs are and then determine if further improvements are needed,” the official added.

The energy ministry, also considering the collection of data a necessary move, is coordinating its efforts with RAE.

 

Customer shifts from PPC to independent suppliers over 1M

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Nearly 1.1 million electricity consumers have left power utility PPC for an independent supplier, latest market data has shown.

Besides considerable penetration into the mid-voltage market, independent suppliers are now making further gains in the low-voltage category serving households and businesses.

Approximately ten of the Greek market’s twenty or so independent suppliers represent the overwhelming majority of these 1.1 million electricity consumers who have left PPC. Three of these suppliers, vertically integrated, also operate natural gas-fueled power stations.

Independent suppliers represent approximately 16 percent of the country’s 7.57 million power meters. PPC remains the dominant player with control of 6.36 million power meters.

Electricity market competition has intensified over the past two or so years, as highlighted by the increased number of customer shifts from one supplier to another. Customer mobility nearly doubled in 2019 compared to a year earlier, rising from 338,000 to 627,000 customers.

According to data provided by RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, 226,779 customers opted to switch electricity supplier during the first half of 2019.

Market officials have linked this mass movement with tariff increases at PPC.

PPC officials contend the company’s outflow of customers slowed down during the final quarter of 2019, noting some consumers have chosen to return to the power utility following short spells at independent suppliers.

Competition is expected to keep intensifying. PPC is preparing to offer new products around spring.