Energy Ministry: New hours for the reduced-rate electricity tariff

The government is introducing incentives aiming to transfer electricity demand to daytime hours and weekends, when prices on the Energy Exchange are lowest due to supply from solar, Environment and Energy Minister Theodoros Skylakakis announced.

Speaking to the Action24 TV on Wednesday, Skylakakis explained that the old system with the lower late-night rates no longer reflects what is happening in the market, given that electricity is now more expensive at those hours.

The new framework changes the hours when the reduced rate tariff applies to a zone between 10:00-15:00 on weekdays and all day at the weeks. Currently, reduced rates are charged between 2:00-8:00 and 16:00-17:00 in winter and from 23:00 until 7:00 the following morning in the summer. The price for electricity on the stock exchange is now lower, sometimes even zero, during the middle of the day, however, due to excess supply from photovoltaics and lower demand at weekends.

“We currently have a remnant of the old electrical system, when there was no demand at night, so that the then PPC offered the night rate. Now the evening is the most expensive time of the day, and the cheapest is midday, when the photovoltaics work, and on weekends, especially on Sundays.

“So it makes sense to move the demand to where the cheap price is, because this will allow the tariffs given by the providers to be cheaper. We currently have analog meters, which are not “smart”, but have two zones. Given this, we will go to two zones, one in the afternoon and one at weekends – all weekend. I think we will be able to introduce this by the beginning of the year,” Skylakakis said.