For the second time since July, South-Eastern Europe is going through an electricity price crisis in early September.
The causes of these two crises are the same. As Nikos Mantzaris explained in ERT3’s “Borders” TV programme (13/9/2024), first of all, many countries in the region experienced shortages in electricity supply. Combined with the fact that European regulation allows electricity producers to sell energy regardless of profit, the increased demand and decreased supply in this unregulated market led to high prices.
This is why The Green Tank policy analyst stressed the need to change European energy market legislation. Otherwise, governments, including the Greek one, can and should send a signal to producers that they will not tolerate profiteering.
At the same time, in order to tackle the problem of high energy costs, a power mix based on cheap renewables and energy storage infrastructure is needed.
Finally, the way people consume energy needs to change, by shifting the night tariff to midday (when we have high RES generation) and installing smart meters.
You can watch the interview of Nikos Mantzaris with Kalli Zarali for ERT3’s “Borders” show on our YouTube channel (in Greek).
