GREECE Law and Practice Contributed by: Evangelos (Evans) Courakis, Evangelos Mylonas Tsoumas, Sofia Andreanoudi, Vassiliki Xynou and Ioanna Marouso Argyriou, Koutalidis Law Firm
4.5 Monopoly Rights to Provide Transmission Services
through the use of flexibility services, to promote the development of the energy market, security of supply, improvement of the quality of services, the use of electricity generated from RES, with corresponding investments in the development of transmission systems and distribution net - works. Under the Electricity Unbundling Directive as incorporated in the Energy Law, transmission system operators (TSOs) must provide fair and equal access to the network for all market par- ticipants, preventing any preferential treatment. TSOs must operate independently from genera- tion and supply activities to avoid conflicts of interest, ensuring transparency and efficiency in network operations. The TSO may deny access to the system only due to the exhaustion of the system’s capacity and such decision must be specifically justified based on objective, tech- nical and economic criteria. In the event of a denial of access, the TSO is required to provide information regarding the necessary measures to reinforce the system, in exchange for a fee that reflects the cost of providing these rein- forcements. 4.7 Open-Access and Non- Discriminatory Transmission Under the Electricity Transmission System Man- agement Code, IPTO may enter into a contract with any natural or legal person registered in IPTO’s register who accepts all the provisions of the said Code (Article 1.4 of the Code). The operator transaction agreement (in Greek “Σύμβαση Συναλλαγών Διαχειριστή”) is deemed to have been concluded by the parties upon registration in the operator register (in Greek “Μητρώο Διαχειριστή”) and is not subject to any other formality. Any amendment to this Code
The provision of transmission services in Greece is a natural monopoly reserved only for IPTO due to the very high infrastructure costs. Therefore, the Energy Law foresees only a single transmis- sion operator. The overall organisation of the management of energy transmission activities, along with the Electricity Unbundling Directive and the Energy Law, also reflected in IPTO’s Arti- cles of Association ensure its substantial inde- pendence. 4.6 Transmission Charges and Terms of Service The framework foresees that IPTO shall receive the Greek Electricity Transmission System’s required revenue in return for its services. The required revenue is determined via a RAWEW decision for each calendar year. The required revenue is recovered through system usage charges, which are determined based on the general principles provided for in the Electricity Transmission System Management Code and the methodology included in the system usage charges manual. Pursuant to the Energy Law, RAWEW decides, after consulting the competent electricity net- work operators and applying transparent criteria, the methodology for the calculation of tariffs for non-competitive activities, in such a way that such tariffs are non-discriminatory and reflect the cost of the services provided. The method- ologies and the tariffs for non-competitive activi- ties are published on RAWEW’s and the com- petent operator’s website. RAWEW must take into account the need to establish short and long-term incentives for transmission system operators and distribution network operators in order to improve the efficiency of transmission systems and distribution networks, including
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