Mitsotakis for smart meters: Households will have much better control over their electricity bills

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met at Megaros Maximos with the President of the European Investment Bank (EIB), Werner Hoyer.

During the meeting, the possibilities of further expanding Greece’s important, long-term cooperation with the EIB, the positive course of the Greek economy and its prospects, as well as the need to deal with the consequences of the climate crisis, both at the level of prevention and customization level.

This was followed by a ceremony of signing a financing agreement regarding the smart cash project by EIB Vice-President Kyriakos Kakouris and DEDDIE CEO Anastasios Manos.

Mitsotakis: Excellent level of cooperation between Greece and the EIB

“I am glad to welcome you again to Athens. Much has been accomplished since your last visit. As you know, we have finally regained investment grade, which has made us all very happy. I believe it is an important milestone,” said the Prime Minister welcoming Mr. Hoyer to the Maximos Palace.

“I would like to thank you again for the excellent level of cooperation between Greece and the Bank. I think the agreement we’re signing today to fund smart meters is a very good indication of where we want to go in the future in terms of our climate change policies and ensuring that electricity systems are as efficient as possible. Households will have much better control over their bills and be able to save money, that’s what the smart meter is all about. They will have ownership of the consumption they will make, in a much more transparent way,” said Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

EIB President: The upgrading of electricity networks is absolutely necessary

“We had a very productive discussion with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. We discussed, among other things, last summer’s devastating floods and fires. These tragedies are a grim reminder of the dangers of climate change. They are called natural disasters, they are unnatural disasters, extreme phenomena that are the result of our failure at the global level to protect our planet, over a long period of time,” said Mr. Hoyer after the signing ceremony.

“Perhaps the most important area of ​​all in mitigating the effects of climate change is energy networks. Upgrading electricity networks is absolutely necessary to enable the installation of new and more renewable energy sources, absolutely necessary to increase efficiency, absolutely necessary and vital to lower energy bills for our citizens. The contract we signed today with the Greek distribution network operator highlights the EIB’s focus in this area. Smarter grids are a prerequisite for the decarbonisation of our energy supply”, noted the President of the European Investment Bank.

“I completely agree with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who has stated that investment in the energy transition is not enough,” said Werner Hoyer during his presentation. “We need to support investments for adaptation to climate change. Adaptation to a warmer, more hostile climate and extreme weather. And I am pleased to assure you today that the EIB is in advanced talks with the Greek authorities to sign a major partnership that will help the country deal with the effects of these unnatural disasters. Our annual results from last year show that Greece is the largest beneficiary of EIB financing as a percentage of GDP. The ones we signed today are the latest examples of our firm support for the Greek economy.”

We welcome the investment, says the CEO of DEDDIE

The Managing Director of DEDDIE, Anastasios Manos, for his part stated: “The European Investment Bank has always supported the PPC group and of course DEDDIE. We welcome the investment in one of DEDDIE’s most emblematic projects that will rapidly transform and modernize the Greek energy market by upgrading the electricity distribution network, effectively paving the way for a successful energy transition. Smart meters and smart grids are essential to achieving all our energy goals. In the face of climate change, we need a more reliable, smarter grid now more than ever.”

Modernization of energy transmission infrastructure with a green and digital sign

The project concerns the supply and installation of a total of 7.3 million smart meters to serve all low voltage consumers. The new meters, of which 5.3 million will be single-phase and the rest will be three-phase, will be connected to an upgraded high-capacity telemetering centre.

The project is of key importance for the digital transformation of the network and for the achievement of the national objectives for the protection of the environment, which have been set in the framework of the European Union. It is expected to bring many and substantial benefits to consumers, as smart meters will allow them, among other things, to monitor energy use in real time, save resources, better plan their activities, participate in economically beneficial market programs and to have accurate pricing of their consumption.

DEDDIE and energy market participants will also have significant operational benefits, which is indirectly in the interest of society as a whole, given that the new infrastructure will facilitate the detection of technical losses and power theft, while at the same time creating a much simpler service delivery ecosystem .

The completion of the investment is planned for 2030, but as of the end of this year, DEDDIE will be able to telemeter approximately 40% of the energy consumed, a percentage that is estimated to exceed 55% by the end of 2024.

The total project budget is €1.2 billion, of which €150 million will be covered by European Investment Bank resources, supporting the first phase of the replacement of old cash.