Suppliers yesterday announced the steepest green electricity tariffs ever recorded for November, with the market average rising by 33% and now nearing 30 cents per kilowatt-hour, while all signs point to conditions worsening.
That means the more than 3 million households who remain on green tariffs will face very steep increases of between 29% and… 76% in their bills this month, for now completely unprotected and without any subsidy support as prices surge out of control.
This is not only the fifth consecutive month of retail price increases, but a level of price rises not seen since the 2022 crisis. The average charge has now reached 28 cents, 60% higher than last July, when the rally began.
At the same time, more suppliers are charging over 30 cents, effectively signalling to consumers who remain on green tariffs that it is time to leave them and switch to blue tariffs.
It remains to be seen how the government will respond to November’s very large double-digit increases, and whether it will bring back subsidies. The fact is, however, that the only way out for consumers on variable tariffs is to switch to blue tariffs, where PPC’s aggressive pricing policy is once again playing a decisive role.
The company yesterday announced it would keep its myHome Online offer available for another month. Although the price per kilowatt-hour is rising to 13 cents (from 11.5 in October), with the monthly standing charge set at 5 euros, the product remains the cheapest in the fixed-rate category.
But that still does not solve the problem, and the need to support the millions of consumers on variable tariffs with subsidies is back with renewed urgency, particularly as most suppliers have exhausted their scope to absorb some of the increase in wholesale prices.
How to explain increases above wholesale prices
Although wholesale prices rose by 25% in October, closing at €197/MWh from €157/MWh in September, almost all suppliers announced larger increases in retail prices. It has been years since anything similar happened on such a broad scale. Until now, retail price rises had been significantly smaller than those in the wholesale market. November’s figures show that even major players are now facing serious difficulties.
According to announcements made by several suppliers by late yesterday evening, PPC raised its charge by 6.3% for consumption of up to 200 kilowatt-hours (16.9 cents, compared with 15.9 cents in October) and by 29% for consumption above 200 kWh. In this bracket, the price is 28.44 cents, compared with 21.99 cents last month.
For Protergia, the charge for “Protergia Home Value Special”, as its green tariff is called, is rising by 43%, from 18.4 cents to 26.4 cents/kWh.
For HERON, the increase for “HERON Basic Home” is 76%: after remaining fixed at 14.76 cents for months, the charge is now 25.95 cents/kWh.
NRG announced a 29% increase for its green tariff, from 25.9 cents to 33.4 cents/kWh, while Volton is raising its charge by 32%, from 27.36 cents to 36.22 cents/kWh.
In practice, the largest increases are coming from companies that had kept prices low throughout the previous period, at between €150-185/MWh (15-18.5 cents/kWh), and sold at a loss in October, when the wholesale price for the month closed at €197/MWh.
Several of these suppliers had been following the same policy for some time, absorbing part of the cost. But with conditions now tightening amid a surge in wholesale prices and more increases ahead, they have passed on the rises to their green tariffs — and then some.
The worst is yet to come
This is because there are no signs of prices easing in the electricity market, quite the opposite. Gas futures for November are approaching €100/MWh, while Greek electricity futures closed at €270/MWh on Friday, up more than 100% from a year ago.
With natural gas prices at these levels, production constrained across south-eastern Europe — low hydropower and nuclear output, expensive gas and high CO2 costs — and winter approaching, the coming weeks will prove extremely critical for electricity markets in both Europe and Greece, where the wholesale price is set to hit another annual record today, at €313/MWh.
The government is also coming under pressure, as the plan to extend subsidies for electricity and natural gas is not viable, as officials have made clear in recent weeks.
No funding appears to have been found either in the state budget or through the Energy Transition Fund (ETF), the special national mechanism used to support consumers against price fluctuations.
At the same time, however, as the domestic funding pot runs dry, the outcome of the “battle for fiscal flexibility” in Brussels also appears uncertain.
The difficulties, and the backlash, will intensify in the coming days when the full extent of November’s green tariff increases becomes clear, along with the strong likelihood that the average price will exceed 30 cents per kilowatt-hour in December.