“Orange” electricity tariffs: from February – for businesses, from April – for households

WITH February Greece begins the phased implementation of the so-called “orange” tariffs for electricity – the first organized form dynamic multi-zone tariffs on the retail market.

At the first stage, the new regime will be applied to enterprises with connection power over 25 kVA. For households and small consumers “orange” tariffs will come into force from April.

New pricing model provided relevant decision of the ministrypublished in the Official Gazette just before Christmas. Its goal is to change the way consumers and businesses manage their energy consumption by linking cost directly to market conditions.

The key element of the system is hourly dynamic charging. The cost of a kilowatt-hour will change every hour and is based on wholesale market price plus a fixed supplier premium.

A prerequisite for switching to the “orange” tariff is the presence smart meter. For small consumers the tariff will consist of fixed monthly paymentknown from the moment of conclusion of the contract, and variable partdepending on the hourly price of electricity.

The hourly rate will be published in advance – no later than 17:00 the previous daywhich allows consumers to transfer energy-intensive processes to periods with a lower price.

Large electricity suppliers serving more than 200,000 clientsare already preparing dynamic products, since they are obliged to offer at least one such tariff for each category of consumers.

The problem of infrastructure and smart meters

The key challenge of the transition to dynamic charging remains accounting infrastructure. According to the Waste, Energy and Water Regulatory Authority, approx. 330,000 smart metersalready installed in the country, do not have technical capabilities for near real-time measurements.

We are talking about devices installed before implementation Directives EU 2019/944that do not have a standardized communication port H1 or output pulses – elements necessary for accurate and prompt control of consumption.

The regulator indicates that such restrictions create incompatibility with the new dynamic tariff systemsince consumers will not be able to fully monitor the cost of electricity and adjust their behavior.

In this context, HEDNO is obliged to correct the problem either by modernization existing meters, or their complete replacement within a reasonable time. The operator must also clearly inform suppliers and consumers about the real capabilities of each installed metering device.

Thus, “orange” tariffs open the way to more flexible and potentially profitable electricity consumption, but their effectiveness will directly depend on infrastructure readiness and the level of technical equipment of the market.

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