Electricity prices: Why the Greek government rules out imposing a ceiling along the Spanish standards

The European Council may have adopted in its decisions the possibility of imposing a cap on the country electricity markets to meet the requirements of the Spanish Prime Minister Sanchez and the Portuguese Prime Minister Costa, but a key phrase in the text of the conclusions ensures potential impact on the single electricity market.

The Council made the preservation of the integrity of the single electricity market a priority. In this way, the governments of the countries of the Iberian Peninsula may have received the “OK” for the temporary imposition of maximum prices on the wholesale electricity markets, but it will be checked whether or not this measure affects the markets of other Member States.

Electricity exports

As factors of the Greek electricity market explained to OT, “the wholesale or stock markets of the member states are interconnected. They operate as a single market and the Commission, like the European Council, does not intend to change this architectural structure. ” According to the same sources, “the imposition of a maximum price individually in a wholesale electricity market would only result in the companies operating in it resorting to the export of quantities of electricity seeking their payment in neighboring markets at a higher price.” The same sources told OT that “the big electricity companies of the Iberian Peninsula EDP and Iberdrola are said to disagree with the policy manipulations on the issue. This is because electricity exports create additional costs for imports of expensive electricity or increase electricity generation in order to cover energy losses.

The Greek market

The issue also ignited fires in the Greek political scene. With SYRIZA blaming the government for not claiming such a measure (ceiling) in the domestic wholesale market and the government rejecting its implementation in our country.

In an announcement, the Ministry of Environment and Energy states:

“For the umpteenth time, the opposition is trying to distort reality, on the occasion of the European Council conclusions on the possibility of accelerating the approval by the European Commission of emergency measures to decouple fossil fuel prices from the price of electricity as formed in the wholesale market.

Many of the proposals in the European Council conclusions, which include ways to decouple fossil fuels from electricity pricing, especially in areas with limited interconnection with the common electricity market, such as the Iberian Peninsula, carry a greater economic burden on state budgets and therefore to the taxpayers who are also the energy consumers “, the Energy Ministry notes in its announcement.