Fuel prices climbed over 2 euros per liter on Tuesday as desperate Greeks incl those belonging to the middle-class hold their breath before opening the electricity or natural gas bills. Despite some price de-escalation in the electricity wholesale market the price remain exorbitantly high for the average consumer.
Significant de-escalation is recorded in the prices of electricity in the pre-day market of the Energy Exchange, which are set for tomorrow at 331.3 euros per megawatt hour compared to 426.9 euros today (a decrease of 22%), Greece’s media report on Tuesday afternoon.
However, prices remain high, as a result of the corresponding rise in gas prices, which today approached 300 euros per megawatt hour on the Dutch Stock Exchange (yesterday they reached 340 euros) and are close to 210 euros on Tuesday afternoon.
The participation of PPC lignite power plants in meeting the demand, as well as of renewable sources (30.7%) has increased to 19%. The share of natural gas units is relatively reduced (39.8%) . The share of electricity imports is also low, at 3%, media report.
Energy Prices & lignite plants
Development Minister Adonis Georgiadis told Skai TV that the lignite units in the country operate “full time” and dismissed as “populism” claims that energy prices in Greece reached unprecedented heights due to the halting of lignite plants.
He added that except for one unit in Kardia Amynteo that closed in 2018, all the other lignite units are working at full capacity.
He noted that the PM’s decision for de-lignification concerns their closure in 2023 and nothing that is to be done then can affect the price in March 2022.
Minister Georgiadis spoke of “the biggest energy crisis in history.”
Consumers in despair
No matter what the minister and the government claim, average Greeks take deep breaths before opening their electricity and natural gas bills and think twice or three times before driving to the fuel station.
A woman posted on social media that she got a gas bill of 500 euros and a power one for over 1,000.
Another internet user said that the Public Power Company cut electricity at his parents home as they failed to pay the bill in time that was almost 1,000 euros.
Other posted their bills that are 4-5 times higher that the corresponding last year and with the same consumption.
Note that these bills due to be paid in March and that the preceding bills Nov 2021 – Feb 2022 were 2-3 times higher than usual.
Fuel may even reach 2.5 euros per liter
Within just one month, heating oil across Greece hit an increase of € 0.20 per liter, a fact that forces consumers either not to buy oil or to greatly reduce the amount they buy.
According to the Fuel Prices Observatory of the Ministry of Development, on February 1 the average price of:
Diesel was € 1.,572 and on March 5 it jumped to € 1.755, while in many regions it exceeded € 2.
Unleaded 95 octane in the prefecture of Attica was € 1.807 on February 1 and 1.975 on March 5 In Cyclades it reached € 2.140, followed by the Dodecanese with € 2.095, Evritania with € 2.066 and Samos with € 2.035.
On Tuesday, March 8, indicative fuel prices
The Vice President of the Association of Gas Station Owners and Traders, George Asmatoglou told news website newsit.gr that there has been an increase of € 0.20 in the last three days..
“Now {Tuesday noon] we have the price of heating oil in Attica at € 1.419 . Tomorrow it will go to € 1.60. The increase of two-three days is 20 minutes. The barrel is now at $ 127 from $ 93 last month. I do not know what will happen. The barrel can go to $ 150 and if it goes to $ 150, then the gasoline will exceed 2.5 euros.”
Asmatoglu stressed that “fuel price hikes have become uncontrollable.”
Even if the government reduces the Value Added Tax, the gain will be minimal to zero, as “the gain per liter will be just 0.10 cents if the price is 2.10,” he noted.
Fuel and heating oil prices on the island of Milos, afternoon, March 8 via newsit.
Meanwhile, government spokesman Giannis Oikonomou told Mega TV early Tuesday evening that “the government can help consumers only if the fiscal data allow it. ”
Note: they won’t.
In this sense, the subsidy will be some 40 euros per household for power and heating bills also in March and probably in April or for however long the energy crisis will last.
Wait for the prices to literally explode now that US President Joe Biden announced ( 6:30 pm GR time) embargo on Russian oil and UK is to announce the same too.
POLL
And how do you cope with the energy prices? Based on your monthly income can you afford them?
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My electricity bill was 300 % more than last year’s.How is this possible!!We stopped using air-conditioning for heating, 2 years ago and now use a wood burner.Thought we would save money but sadly not!
What we’re witnessing is the controlled demolition of the economy, regular people and everything we hold dear. It’s funny to me to see headlines about energy crisis and how economists were surprised by the inflation and all that, while anyone with half a brain was able to see this coming more than a year ago
Well, we can all “thank” the megalomaniac in Russia for the price hikes in fuel, electricity and gas. If he had stayed in Moscow with his entourage we would not have had to experience this. So, dont blame your governments. And, what is even worse, millions of Ukraine innocent people are now fleeing for their lives because a mad person (refuse to call him a man) “pulled the trigger”!
Prices were exploding in Europe these last months and it was due to inept governments’ policies for dealing with Covid. On the long turn, economic sanctions will probably hit harder the Europeans than the Russian people. The failure of diplomacy in Eastern Europe is a shared co-responsibility between all the warmongers, ever since the end of the Cold War. After 1991, we should have entered a period of peace and stability, instead we witnessed more and more destructive conflicts to secure resources and to achieve global hegemony. Russia has always stated they could not allow NATO in Ukraine for obvious security reasons, this is not new, it has been stated as their red line for the past 2 decades, just like the US would never tolerate any hostile military presence anywhere on the entire American continent. Diplomacy means negotiation, in order to achieve peace through compromises between the parties involved. Tragically, diplomacy seems out of the window, while too many people fail to realize that if we don’t go back to the table, the only other eventual outcome is nuclear armaggedon. I don’t think anyone sane would want that.
Price hikes were there months and months before there was any inkling of a war. Crude hit 85 bucks in October already, highest since 2018, and wheat hit all time high in October too. This Putin thing is just a narrative to switch the blame on someone else and he’s a good target for that because obviously none of us are very fond of him right now. Russia is sure making it worse, essentially speeding up what was gonna happen anyway, but “thanking” Putin for this is barking at the wrong tree. And before we go there: No I’m not a Russian agent and I hate the Muppet of Moscow, but this inflation is the handy work of western governments. The writing was on the wall a long time ago
Would you trade high energy costs for giving up sovereignty?
Prices were already increasing before this war but now they will increase even more. The whole world’s system of production and consumption runs on fossil fuels. The production of food is very energy intensive, including the production of fertilizers. Food prices will increase, taking a huge chunk out of people’s budgets. People will economize by cutting expenses on consumer goods. This will have a snow ball effect on the wider economy. Base and rare metals will also become more expensive. Russia is a major exporter of oil and gas. These are sanctioned but others will buy. China already indicated that it will ignore America’s sanctions. Biden called Saudi Arabia I guess to ask them to increase production but they don’t even answer the call. Instead, they phoned Putin. Russia is also a major exporter of wheat, fertilizers and base metals. All will go up in prices and he will sell only to countries favorable to him, buying their support.
Prices will rise, inflation will rise. Western countries are so highly indebted that they can’t raise interest rates to bring inflation down without damaging debtors and economies.
In short, hard times ahead. This will determine the geopolitical landscape for the next decennia. The only hope is if either Putin is removed via a palace revolution or if Ukraine settles for peace with Russia. It could very well be that the West will force Ukraine to do that and to make big concessions. Then Ukraine is thrown under the geopolitical buss. But it already was.
The thing is, Europe will suffer much more than the US.
PS KTG, your spam protection does not always work, preventing people from responding.
(tx for spam protection)
I was questioning my own ability to solve the sum of 4 + 7….
11, right?
11? it depends…
🙂
Balkan accounting methods.
exactly