Greece gets EUs initial nod to cap power prices – minister

　　ATHENS Reuters – Greece said on Monday the European Commission has initially approved its scheme to set a ceiling on wholesale electricity prices and mitigate the impact of soaring energy costs on households and businesses.

　　With a large share of the countrys power generation mix coming from gas, Athens has been subsidising power and gas bills and has also offered a oneoff grant to vulnerable groups at a total cost of 4 billion euros 4.27 billion since September.

　　But surging gas and electricity prices exacerbated by Russias Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine have left Greek consumers with ballooning power bills and prompted Athens to announce a ceiling on wholesale electricity prices from this summer.

　　“Today, we‘ve made a very important step, by initially agreeing on the new mechanism which will take effect in the electricity market from July onwards,” Greek Energy Minister Kostas Skrekas said in a statement, after meeting EU’s energy commissioner, Kadri Simson, in Brussels.

　　The scheme will include a cap on payments to power producers to reflect their actual production costs, without breaching EUs common power markets rules, to help disconnect soaring gas prices from electricity prices, the statement said.

　　Greece will next week notify the European Commission of the draft legislation outlining the new mechanism, the statement added.

　　Athens has said it will use revenue from its carbon emission permits to finance the scheme.