As part of efforts to address the impact of rising electricity costs on consumers and make better use of peak production hours of renewable energy, Greece’s Environment and Energy Minister Theodoros Skylakakis announced this week that the current time-of-use pricing policy will be replaced with new time periods.
More specifically, the off-peak night rate system (nychterino) will be replaced by cheaper electricity rates from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and on weekends.
Skylakakis said the aim was to redirect demand for power during times when energy exchange rates are the lowest thanks to electricity generated by RES solutions such as photovoltaics.
The government is hoping to implement the new time-of-use policy in the coming year.
In interviews to local media, Skylakakis explained that the traditional night rate system was obsolete, and didn’t correspond with current market demands, given that electricity was now more expensive at night.
The minister said it “made sense” to divert demand to times when the cost of electricity is cheaper which will in turn enable providers to lower their rates.
In order however for government plans to produce results, homes and companies will be required to install so-called smart meters which can measure electricity consumption in real time.
The announced changes, including a new tiered pricing system to replace the current color-coded plan, are set to bring even more changes to the domestic electricity market. In the meantime, Greek consumers are faced yet again with confusing and unclear information concerning charges and bombarded by providers seeking to get a piece of the market pie.
An EU report released earlier this year showed that the rise in living costs was the main concern for 90% of Europeans, with the cost of living in Greece below the EU average impacted significantly by soaring energy costs.
