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Commission approves Greek measures to increase access to electricity for PPC's competitors

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The European Commission has made legally binding, under EU antitrust rules, measures proposed by Greece to allow the competitors of Public Power Corporation (PPC), the Greek state-owned electricity incumbent, to purchase more electricity on a longer-term basis. Greece submitted these measures to remove the distortion created by PPC's exclusive access to lignite-fired generation, which the Commission and Union courts had found to create an inequality of opportunity in Greek electricity markets. The proposed remedies will lapse when existing lignite plants stop operating commercially (which is currently expected by 2023) or, at the latest, by 31 December 2024.

In its decision of March 2008, the Commission found that Greece had infringed competition rules by giving PPC privileged access rights to lignite. The Commission called on Greece to propose measures to correct the anti-competitive effects of that infringement. Due to appeals at both the General Court and European Court of Justice, and difficulties with the implementation of a previous remedies submission, such corrective measures have not been implemented so far. On 1 September 2021, Greece submitted an amended version of the remedies.

The Commission has concluded that the proposed measures fully address the infringement identified by the Commission in its 2008 Decision, in light of the Greek plan to decommission all existing lignite-fired generation by 2023 in line with Greece's and the EU's environmental objectives. Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said: “The decision and the measures proposed by Greece will enable PPC's competitors to better hedge against price volatility, which is a vital element for them to compete in the market for retail electricity and offer stable prices to consumers. The measures work hand in hand with the Greek plan to decommission its highly polluting lignite-fired power plants by discouraging the usage of these plants, fully in line with the European Green Deal and the EU's climate objectives.”

A full press release is available online.

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