Leading metal processing company Viohalco, Greece’s second-biggest electricity consumer, has reached an electricity supply agreement with the main power utility PPC following many months of negotiations, achieved following concessions by both sides and the constructive role of two crucial factors that set standards for the wider industrial sector.

Viohalco accepted a 10 percent tariff increase in exchange for an extended three-year agreement, from 2018 to 2020, offering clarity and foreseeable electricity costs until the end of this period, the biggest benefit of the deal. The industrial enterprise’s electricity consumption reaches 1.2 TWh, representing a considerable part of its overall expenses.

A government pledge, expressed publically, ensuring Viohalco energy cost-savings and competitive electricity tariffs through an extension of Greece’s demand response mechanism (interruptability), was a second crucial factor leading to the industrial player’s three-year deal with PPC.

The measure compensates major-scale electricity consumers when the TSO (IPTO) asks them to shift their energy usage (lower or stop consumption) during high-demand peak hours, so as to balance the electricity system’s needs.