November’s “green” tariffs, announced and published on the Regulatory Authority website, are as much as three times the level of fixed one-year “blue” electricity tariffs.
According to the data, the cheapest green tariff is priced at almost twice the rate of PPC’s fixed tariff, which is the cheapest on the market this month.
The difference is even greater when one considers that many green tariffs have two pricing tiers, with the lower rates applying only if consumption stays below a threshold set by the supplier — for example, 100-200 kilowatt-hours a month.
If consumers exceed that threshold, all their consumption, from the first kilowatt-hour, is charged at the higher rate. Green tariff charges for November start at 26 cents per kilowatt-hour and reach as much as 40 cents/kWh. By comparison, PPC’s fixed tariff is 13 cents/kWh.
November’s price rises follow a surge in natural gas prices on the European market to above €100 per megawatt-hour, and a subsequent increase in wholesale electricity prices on the Greek power exchange to €197.07 per megawatt-hour in October, from €156.31 per megawatt-hour in September.
Just 31.6% of households are on fixed tariffs
Although suppliers have offered cheaper options on the market for at least the past two months — PPC’s fixed tariff was available at 11.5 cents per kilowatt-hour in September and October, while a wide range of fixed tariffs were priced below 15 cents in October — most consumers remain on “green” tariffs, shouldering significant costs during the current energy crisis that they could have avoided.
According to the latest Regulatory Authority data for August, 31.63% of household meters were on fixed tariffs, slightly above the 28.57% recorded in January, but well below the 51.79% share of “green” tariffs. In August, 16.58% of meters were on yellow tariffs, which are also variable, compared with 14.15% in January.
However, the trend towards consumers switching to “blue” tariffs is clear. Data on how it developed over the autumn are awaited, following the introduction of PPC’s competitive tariffs and the worsening energy crisis.
Source: AMNA