In the scourge of the retail market electricity “energy tourism”, as it is called, is developing supplier companies the phenomenon of consumers moving from supplier to supplier with motivation, and not with the search for it cheaper than a kilowatt hourbut not paying their bills. Since last August, when the government established electricity pricing per month, and with the ability for consumers to switch providers even if they haven’t paid their bill, providers’ outstanding debt has doubled and jumped to 1 billion euros. Of these, 500 million, according to market estimates, which yesterday, at a meeting with journalists, gave the CEO of Natural Gas. John Mitropoulos, were added over a ten-month period from August 2022 to May 2023, and represent issues that leave consumers abusing the ability to switch providers behind. With the new pricing model, suppliers do not have the right to demand a power outage for a customer who has switched suppliers without paying their bill, thereby accumulating debt. ESPEN emphasized this problem with their constant meddling in their political leadership. MINISTRY the previous period and a request to accept the proposal of the RAE to restrict the movement of consumers on conditions (for example, with two unpaid bills). Although the ministry entered into a process of re-evaluating the measure through an institutional dialogue with providers, the election announcement intervened and discussions were interrupted.

In contrast to “energy tourists”, the image is being created in the market that most consumers prefer to pay their energy bills, while those who are struggling demand bills. In fact, consumers tend to choose consecutively discounted invoices due to the lower price, and 7 out of 10 of them match perfectly. However, despite high subsidies, some consumers are having difficulty paying their bills on time, resulting in an accumulation of outstanding debts about 500 million euros, which companies manage through settlements, as well as using the “cut-off” tool.

The total debt on unpaid electricity bills reaches 1 billion.

In addition to outstanding debts of 1 billion euros, at least 300-400 million euros “disappeared” from the treasury of providers (according to conservative estimates, as Mr. Mitropoulos said), the amounts they paid as subsidies to companies amount to 35 kVA, but they are difficult to collect due to the difficulty of collecting the necessary – based on the relevant ministerial decision – declarations from their clients. According to Mr. Mitropoulos, only 20% of clients respond.

However, the minister Kostas Skrekas yesterday was a pleasant surprise for suppliers after the preliminary announcement of electricity subsidies, except for May and June, in anticipation of price changes. Thus, although the de-escalation of natural gas prices continues and the market expects prices to fall in June, the minister announced a subsidy corresponding to May, i.e. 1.5 cents/kWh and in just two months a fund of about 47 million euros. “We announced subsidies for two months so that there is no gap in the coverage of citizens in the event of two election races,” the minister said of his decision.