Time-charging in power consumption constitutes the advisable solution in order to save electricity and avoid blackouts, the newly appointed head of the Regulatory Authority for Energy (RAE), Michalis Karamanis, told a parliamentary committee on public enterprises, banks and utilities.
Karamanis’s appointment was approved on Tuesday by both the ruling New Democracy party and the main opposition party, the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK). It was the first time the two major parties had agreed on a candidate since 1990. Left-wing MPs abstained or cast blank ballots.
The Boston University professor added that this solution cannot be implemented immediately; instead, the short-term solution is energy purchase, “but the future lies in time-charge,” he said.
So what does this mean? According to sources at the Public Power Corporation (PPC), such a system would require the replacement of the present consumption-measuring systems with new, electronic ones. The next step would be the procurement of special electronic meters and the creation of a special computing system, called SCADA.
When this is completed, consumption zones will be able to be defined with varying rates. For example, electricity consumption between noon and 3 p.m. would be more expensive than from 3-6 p.m. This way it is estimated that extreme demands from the system can be avoided and the danger of power cuts reduced.
Speaking in the presence of Development Minister Dimitris Sioufas on Tuesday, Karamanis also stressed that RAE’s general aim is to focus on the impact of deregulation on competitiveness, safeguarding the market from the formation of an oligopoly or trust. PPC is the main tool, and private entrepreneurs are also welcome, he stated.
Referring to the Iceland-type “hydrogen economy,” Karamanis suggested that its costs rule it out for the next 20 years. He added that application of the Kyoto protocol will unavoidably incur costs. In response to a comment by Deputy Parliament Speaker Giorgos Sourlas, about past suspect procedures in concessions for the creation of wind parks, Sioufas announced that setting up a new process for renewable energy sources was already under examination, “to create a simple, honest and pure system.”