Transitional step towards free electricity market by September

MPs said on Tuesday they are hopeful that a transitional step toward full liberalisation of the electricity market can be effected by September of this year.

The House energy committee was revisiting the matter of creating a stopgap on the way to fully opening up the market, now envisaged for July 2019.

Authorities are currently in the process of preparing the regulations governing the transitional arrangement, committee chair and Diko MP Angelos Votsis said.

Under the proposal, an intermediate period to full competition will be ushered in by allowing private energy producers – mainly from renewable energy sources – to sell their electricity through monthly, bilateral contracts.

According to Votsis, even the state-run power company (EAC) was positively disposed toward the proposal.

He said the ultimate, permanent goal is the creation of an ‘electricity exchange’.

The transition to a partially free market is expected to lead to a drop in electricity prices, Votsis added.

The government is also seeking to render the Transmission System Operator (TSO) – which monitors transmission and production – a fully autonomous agency.

Currently the TSO is fully dependent on seconded staff from the EAC.

The TSO argues this needs to change, as seconded EAC technicians cannot possibly be given access to electricity competitors’ proprietary data.

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