The energy-intensive high-voltage industry, i.e. 17 companies along with the troubled LARCO from the aluminum, steel, cement, oil refining and paper industries, will bear the brunt of the power outage and production cuts in the first place. But in previous years, in the same way, loads were released through intermittency to ensure the stability and adequacy of the system. But this happened in exceptional cases and for several hours.

Reducing the load daily and within five months will have a significant impact on their production and competition, as these are enterprises of an export nature. In addition, however, their participation in many cases is not possible, and this is because they have adjusted their work based on the rates provided by PPC, which offer a low price during system peak hours.

For example, steel mills close at 6:00 pm and reopen after 11:00 pm to avoid high costs, so they cannot reduce their load during the evening demand peak. Accordingly, in order to limit high energy costs, both refineries have been operating on naphtha (an oil derivative) for several months now, while other large production facilities are operating on alternative fuels to the best of their technical capabilities.

Large industrial and commercial enterprises will be invited to participate in the unloading through auctions for a fee.

In fact, in some months, namely from December to February, and especially in the dead of winter, in mid-January, when the system traditionally shows the highest peaks, the need for load shedding will be even greater. For all these reasons, the relevant public authorities seek the participation of other large consumers, such as supermarket chains or organized retailers. Their participation will depend on whether they have an hour meter and whether it is possible to control it from DEDDIE systems, which, unfortunately, is not taken for granted.

At the first stage, large industrial and commercial enterprises will be invited to participate in unloading through auctions for a fee. ADMIE will call them either a month or even a day in advance to let them know what loads they can cut and by how many hours, making offers and choosing based on the lowest price.

Indeed, one scenario being considered is reportedly to link subsidy cuts as an incentive to force them to participate, with an extreme option of a zero subsidy versus covering 50% of the increased costs today if they don’t bid. The mechanism of demand participation in the balancing market (demand response), where ADMIE asks participants to upload and download loads to meet demand in real time, was put into trial operation from the end of June, but should, according to competent sources, be adapted to work in parallel and complement later with the auctions tool. According to the information, ADMIE is expected to submit a full proposal to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs within a week.