Greece calls for EU action to address surging electricity prices

ATHENS

Greece has called for action from the EU to address surging electricity prices and growing distortions in the energy market, according to the Prime Minister’s Office on Friday.

“In the space of a few months, wholesale electricity prices in Greece have more than doubled, from €60 ($66.6) MWh in April to 130 euros/MWh in August,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a letter addressed to EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Electricity price increases occurred despite Greece’s efforts in energy transition, including increase in the electricity production from solar and wind sources, he added.

“This mismatch between an energy transition that is highly successful and electricity prices that suddenly rose to extreme levels requires a policy response. If left unaddressed, it threatens citizens and our competitiveness. It could also undermine support for the EU's Green Deal,” Mitsotakis said.

He argued that a similar state of affairs is also experienced in other member states, including Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary and Romania, which makes it a regional crisis.

Apart from factors contributing to this regional crisis, such as very high temperatures and low rainfall, the fact that the EU now provides electricity to Ukraine to cover the production gap caused by Russian attacks on its electricity infrastructure worsened the crisis, according to Mitsotakis.

At the same time, he added the shock did not affect all member states equally.

Against this backdrop, Mitsotakis proposed a set of measures including stronger regional governance to better coordinate energy decisions across countries, increased EU regulatory oversight with an EU-wide electricity regulator, and special provisions to mitigate the impact of Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure.

He also called for renewed efforts for more cross-border electricity interconnectors to reduce price disparities and complete the internal market.