DEPA to push for another gas rate cut

By Chryssa Liaggou

Greece’s Public Gas Corporation (DEPA) is waiting for the prime minister’s nod to reopen negotiations with Russian energy giant Gazprom on the issue of the rates at which Greece is charged for natural gas.

Kathimerini understands that DEPA has already prepared its case, but is awaiting the signal from Antonis Samaras as he also has to balance other matters in the Greek-Russian relations.

The first talks on the issue took place in July at as meeting between Samaras and the new board of the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises under Theodoros Fessas. The PM was shown data according to which, despite the 15 percent discount Gazprom offered in February with the revision of the contract, the local industry continues to pay 30 percent more for its gas than its European Union peers.

In that meeting the industry proposed the renegotiation of the contract and the pegging of the natural gas rate to the price paid by the rest of the EU.

The new round of talks is likely to start in January and Greece’s main argument with Gazprom will be the country’s financial situation compared to that of EU states that enjoy lower rates.