April 27, 2024

Athens News

News in English from Greece

Suffocating electricity bills

People’s indignation at repeatedly inflated tariffs ΔΕΗ now acts like a tsunami, sweeping society.

In a show of coordinated social anesthesia, ΔΕΗ sends bills to citizens in which the amounts claimed very often exceed the pensions and salaries of the people who are called upon to pay the exorbitant surcharge.

A situation has arisen where a citizen cannot afford even his fixed expenses – rent, electricity, water, telephone. And if he tries to pay some of these expenses, he and his family will have nothing to live on. The situation is idiotic.

The government acts like it doesn’t understand what’s going on, saying that “if you don’t have money to pay your bills, don’t turn on the lights and heat.”

Citizens are unable to pay and fall into a stalemate as debts pile up and increase. As soon as the cold ends, the power companies will begin to cut off electricity. Government officials are simply hiding this ending.

The reactions of the people of Greece are countless. Complaints also. ΔΕΗ’s clients publicly state that they are desperate. They go to the media and say they don’t know what to do. The authorities no longer hear them. They’ve reached a dead end.

It is noteworthy that only a part of the families received the previously announced subsidies for electricity, mainly users of ΔΕΗ, despite the fact that in Cabinet resolution such criteria were not stipulated, that is, everyone who met the conditions should receive a subsidy.

Bring back the adjustment clause right now!

It is obvious that the Public Electric Grid Company with unbridled cynicism exploited the people’s ignorance of the mechanism of the adjustment clause hidden in small print in contracts with citizens. The reasons and procedures followed by the government machine are explained in detail below.

However, a simple statement needs to be made here: the government and ΔΕΗ management should proceed immediately to eliminate the adjustment clause and allow each consumer to sign the contract at the lowest possible price per kilowatt-hour and on a fixed basis without future changes. Only then will society calm down and the worst will be avoided. Otherwise, the consequences of this painless tactic, which are already visible, will lead to a dramatic development of events. Inflation and energy costs (electricity and heating) are pushing people to the brink of survival. But no one has the right to lead citizens to a miserable choice. The political leadership that tries to do this will pay the price in full, and perhaps not only in the loss of votes in the elections.

Incredible social insensitivity ΔΕΗ – who is to blame

So what happened, and why suddenly citizens began to accept bills for payment with unrealistic amounts that they are not able to pay? Some will talk about “lightning in the air” for electricity consumers and especially for ΔΕΗ customers. Is this an unexpected development that surprised consumers and ΔΕΗ? Probably no. Everything suggests that the management of ΔΕΗ deliberately methodized the introduction of a corrective clause, leaving the price increase per kWh unrestrained. Without ceiling and safety valves. This is a deliberate distortion of the market situation that occurred when private electricity suppliers went to the Competition Commission and complained to ΔΕΗ for removing them from the list of suppliers due to the low cost per kilowatt-hour.

ΔΕΗ chose to satisfy its … “competitors” in the private sector by driving millions of consumers and professionals to despair. After a sharp increase in electricity bills in September, an even more dramatic December has arrived, and now the situation is getting out of hand. In other words, it is not the fault of the international energy crisis or the rise in gas and oil prices imposed by the markets. This is due to the clear and methodical choice of ΔΕΗ, i.e. government and competent ministries of finance. And here there is a personified guilt of individuals.

The secret of the reservation and the “combination” of ΔΕΗ

The devil is always hidden in the details, that is, in the footnotes and small letters of any contract. The average citizen did not know, and unfortunately still does not know, that ΔΕΗ unilaterally activated the adjustment provision from August 5 and without notifying its customers. This is an automatic process. Prior to this, ΔΕΗ offered electricity to the market at the lowest price compared to its competitors. This price can reach 0.17 euro cents. Uninformed citizens fell into a well-established trap. They did not know and never thought that such a change in policy would be made by the Public Electricity Company, which is run by the state and, in theory, should have an adequate social policy, unlike private companies. But it turned out the opposite.

What exactly happened

So far, ΔΕΗ has allowed consumers to “lock in” the billing price for two years, avoiding the adjustment clause if they were its customers on MyHomeOnline, myHomeEnter, and for one year on MyHomeEnter+.

This fact caused a sharp reaction from alternative energy suppliers, who, in a letter to the Energy Regulatory Authority (ERA), emphasized that ΔΕΗ uses methods of unfair competition, taking advantage of its former monopoly position in the market.

However, “fixing” the price without an adjustment clause is what all providers offer. The reason for the reaction is that the price offered by ΔΕΗ prior to 2/12/2021 was less than half of the wholesale electricity price in October, and that it is using its exclusive access to hydropower generation, which gives it a significant advantage and flexibility, especially now that prices on the gas soared to heaven.

Now, after the reaction of competitors, the new tariff policy of ΔΕΗ of December 3, 2021 includes the following changes:

1. Up to 80% increase in the price per kilowatt-hour compared to the previous price.

2. “Lock” fixed price without adjustment clause is now valid for one year instead of two, which were valid before.

New Article on Delivery Fee Adjustment

From August 5, 2021, ΔΕΗ introduced a new way of pricing electricity consumed (competitive fee) by households as well as low voltage professionals. According to the information, ΔΕΗ will replace the CO2 item, which has been in effect so far for low voltage electricity tariffs and which has been activated since the beginning of May. It has been replaced by a new adjustment clause that will now be based on the wholesale electricity market price.

The new clause, called the “Electricity Charge Adjustment Regulation”, covers the “old” residential and professional low voltage rates (i.e. it applies to all low voltage PPC customers, except those who opted for one of the new myHome programs) . myHome Enter/ Online/ Enter+).

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