“Self-production will be tested”, Nikos Mantzaris warned about the end of net metering and its replacement by net billing in new photovoltaic connections.
His statements were aired on “The Economy Today” show on ERTNEWS, in a March 18th report about the accelerated completion of the “Photovoltaics on the Roof” program almost two months earlier.
Under the previous net metering system, PV owners offset the kilowatt-hours they produce with those they consume at any time of the day and throughout the year.
With the new tool of net billing, the offset energy is only the energy consumed at the time of production. As the report by ERTNEWS notes, if a household does not consume the energy it produces in real time, it will sell it to the system at a price well below the evening hours when it needs to consume electricity.
Nikos Mantzaris commented that the amount of offset energy in real time is significantly lower – about 1/3 – than the total energy produced by a PV system.
The Green Tank’s policy analyst stressed that unequivocal conditions and a stable institutional framework are needed for the implementation of net billing.
“Otherwise, a very positive phenomenon that we have observed in Greece in the last two years will be discouraged: the citizens’ shift to renewable energy”, he concluded.
You can watch “The Economy Today” show (in Greek) here.
