THE geopolitical instability expected to affect the electricity prices next month as its price has already shot up to around 30 euros per megawatt hour natural gas in TTF vs. 23 before Israel beat Iran.
As he mentioned yesterday speaking to journalists, President of ESPEN and General Manager of Natural Gas Mr. Yannis Mitropoulos in April the average Market Clearing Price (MTP) will be 60 euros per megawatt hour, when in March it was 63 euros. However, the prediction is that the price of natural gas it will not fall below 30 euros per megawatt hour due to the uncertainty created by the events in the Middle East.
For April, as he emphasized, an important role in the partial de-escalation of prices was played by the large participation of Renewable Energy Sources in the country’s energy mix, especially at the beginning of April. This, as he mentioned, was also the reason that lately there are days with several zero prices, which lower the cost.
As he explained, wholesale price could be closed lower than 60 euros per megawatt hourif there was no price appreciation due to the cold in Germany, which also affected the rest of the European markets.
Mr. Mitropoulos did not hide his concern about the course of the market, pointing out that the entry of RES affects the European markets. As he said yesterday, in Spain the average price in 2024 was at 38 to 39 euros per megawatt hour, while in April at 5 to 6 euros per megawatt hour. This means that investments in green energy are now considered unprofitable.
Pick up the pace
Regarding natural gas, Mr. Mitropoulos said yesterday in an informative meeting with journalists that it is now extremely competitive with wholesale prices now hovering around 30 euros per megawatt hour. The savings rates reach 50% for residential consumers and 64% for businesses.
In particular, gas during this year’s heating season (October 2023 – April 2024) was cheaper than heating oil by 45.5% for a household with central heating and by 49% for a household with autonomy.
This means that consumers who used natural gas in their homes for heating paid half the cost of fuel, compared to a block of flats which used heating oil. “So we have returned to the savings we had just before the energy crisis”, Mr. Mitropoulos emphasized.
Accordingly, for a restaurant that used gas it had a saving of 64%, compared to the cost if it used electricity, while for an oven the saving reached 42% in relation to the consumption of diesel. Even in a ten-year horizon (2014-2024), according to the head of “Natural Gas”, an apartment building has saved 18,000 euros, while an apartment has saved 3,500 euros.
Throwing sizes
In 2023 the Natural gas it was the provider who came first in consumer choices. The details of the Waste Energy and Water Regulatory Authority (RAAEF) and of Gas Network Operators, show that it managed to increase its customer base by 34,722 connections (in electricity and natural gas in total), surpassing all the competition. In total the company serves 600,000 households (333,948 connections).
The company’s turnover fell to 584 million euros from 883 million euros in 2022, mainly due to the drop in electricity and gas prices, while net profits stood at 32 million euros, almost the same as in 2022 when they reached 32.9 million euros.
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natural gas, heating, electricity
