The European Commission has informed the Greek electricity provider Public Power Corporation (PPC) of its preliminary view that it has breached EU antitrust rules by selling electricity in the Greek wholesale market below cost, thereby excluding its main rivals.
Article continues below
PPC is the largest supplier of retail and wholesale electricity in Greece, in which the Greek State holds an important minority stake.
Between 2013 to 2019, PPC controlled all lignite and hydro capacity as well as some of the natural gas and renewable power generation plants. It was also active in the supply of energy to retail and business consumers.
The Commission's preliminary view is that PPC held a dominant position in the interconnected Greek wholesale electricity market, which during the period concerned comprised Greek mainland as well as the Ionian and a few Aegean islands.
The Commission has preliminary concerns that, between 2013 and 2019, PPC abused its dominant position on the Greek wholesale electricity market by supplying the electricity generated by its thermal plants (i.e., lignite and gas) at prices below their variable costs (meaning those costs that increase with the volume of electricity generated by PPC).
The suspected effects of this alleged conduct on the Greek wholesale market for electricity were that independent power providers were marginalized and investment into more environmentally friendly energy sources was deterred.
This could have prevented the independent power providers from expanding at the retail level, thwarting the efforts towards retail market liberalisation that was formally completed in July 2013. Therefore, PPC's conduct may have led to higher prices for Greek consumers, as well as higher emission levels of local pollution.
If the Commission's preliminary view is confirmed, this conduct would infringe Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (‘TFEU'), which prohibits the abuse of a dominant position. ■