SVAP: Seven proposals to support businesses in the midst of the energy price rally

The concern of the processing companies to limit or even temporarily suspend their facilities and their export activities, as the pressures on energy prices significantly affect the competitiveness of their products in the international markets, conveyed the president of SVAP Mr. Dimitris Mathios to the Minister of Environment and Energy Mr. K. Skreka in a meeting at the Ministry of Energy with the Administration of the Association.

Mr. Mathios delivered a memorandum with the positions of SVAP in which after analyzing the whole situation and proposing the following solutions in view of the formulation of government intervention measures:

“Under the current circumstances, Greek industries and handicrafts are forced to reduce or even temporarily close their facilities. Especially for export companies, this ongoing situation significantly affects the competitiveness of their products in international markets as energy costs are a high share of Export companies are the most exposed to the dramatic increases in electricity and gas prices.

To address the situation we suggest the following 7 measures and we invite you to immediately evaluate, discuss and implement them:

1. Medium Voltage (MT) Consumer Protection by the Energy Regulatory Authority (RAE) with the possibility of choosing an invoice (fixed for 1-2 years, floating with a maximum ceiling or open), in order to reduce the absolute dependence on the stock market price. Possibility of concluding a special price for MT consumers and especially for energy-intensive companies with Electricity providers (depending on the energy profile, the amount of consumption, continuous and stable consumption, etc. and application of discount bonuses) – to apply what is done to high consumers (MT) – implementation of the principle of equal treatment of MT & YT consumers with common criteria.

Change the pricing method, today the price is calculated with the mechanism of the next day and is based on the change of the prices of the FA. With this mechanism and since there are no safety stocks, the daily changes are large and are transferred to consumption.

The conclusion of medium-term contracts of MT companies with electricity providers, based on the average total energy cost and with a forecast of risk premium against extreme fluctuations of stock prices

2. Removal – and not suspension – of the charge in favor of Renewable Energy Sources (RES), Utilities (SGI) & the Special Gaseous Emission Classification Fee (ETMEAR) for MT companies:

a. The RES invoice does not correspond to the lower cost they have. Excess RES revenues must be distributed in order to reduce the price of energy.

b. With the electricity interconnection of the islands having been completed by a large and satisfactory percentage until today, the SGI charges that burdened the electricity bills are receding. The savings from the projects implemented in the last three years reach 500 million euros and are expected to approach 1.5 billion euros by 2030. This reserve will support MT companies.

c. Possibility to be included in the reduced ETMEAR scheme for all companies, with consumption being introduced as an eligibility criterion, in order to allow the inclusion of energy-intensive MT companies.

d. MT companies that generate electricity through photovoltaics but also those that have zero energy footprint should not be charged with ETMEAR.

3. Refund of the Special Consumption Tax (SCT) in Electricity and Natural Gas:

a. For companies with a purely export profile, the VAT should be refunded depending on the value of their exports, as is the case with oil. Especially for energy-intensive export companies where electricity and gas account for a large share of their production costs, the VAT is respectively a significant part of the electricity and gas bill.

b. The charging of EFC for electricity and gas should be based on the minimum indicators set by the relevant EU directive.

4. Net Metering – the solution to power surges. It will indeed be a solution with:

a. Utilization by the competent Ministries in cooperation with the Regions of all available resources and financial means available from the EU for subsidizing MT companies for investments in RES.

b. Simplification of photovoltaic licensing through fast track procedures.

c. Implementation of Virtual Net Metering for energy-intensive companies MT, whose size of consumption and the geographical location where they are located, bind them and do not make the implementation of Net Metering feasible with the current provisions and regulations. E.g. an energy-intensive MT industry with an installed capacity of 4 MWh, in order to be able to implement Net Metering, theoretically needs an area of ​​50 acres for the installation of photovoltaics on land that must be located either on the same plot or next door. It is practically impossible for this large area to exist next to energy-intensive MT companies, no matter how much this area meets the specifications for the installation of photovoltaics (land use, slope, orientation, etc.).
d. Improving the existing infrastructure of the networks that are currently not enough to accommodate the photovoltaic installations that are going to operate.

5. Creating a type of tax-free reserve in business, especially to deal with these emergencies.

6. Enabling businesses to repayment of bills already issued at increased prices by electricity and gas providers, over a period of six months, in order to facilitate the already burdened liquidity of companies.

7. Immediate implementation of measures against the increase of electricity and support companies similar to those applied with visible relief to other southern countries such as Italy, Spain and Portugal.