The European Union’s energy market regulator has found indications of possible market manipulation or abuse of a dominant position in Greece during the mini-crisis in energy in the summer of 2024, which sent electricity prices soaring across Southeastern Europe.
The issue of prices, which concerned the government and competent authorities at the time, was the subject of an investigation by Greek watchdog RAAEY, which did not identify any speculative movements in the internal market.
The government staff then linked the high prices and the deviations with prices in Western Europe, which are observed to this day, to the “technical” weaknesses in the capacity of the interconnections between Central and Eastern Europe, which Greece subsequently highlighted to the competent European institutions. The problem was addressed and continues to be addressed as external since the national authorities had not found anything strange.
However, the magnifying lens of the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER), which completed its research for that period in the Greek market as part of the European Market Monitoring Report 2025, identified findings that show that the behavior of suppliers and producers changes when the market “tightens” – that is, when the available supply is limited and demand is high. In these circumstances, some players seem to shape their offers in a way that artificially pushes prices upward. The behavior of offers in summer 2024 in the evening hours is “compatible with limited competitive operation and possible exercise of market power,” ACER finds.
Although it does not name specific companies and incidents, ACER’s analysis shows that in this period the supply and demand curves in the Greek market showed shifts that cannot be explained only by technical or exogenous factors.
Kathimerini understands ACER has identified a total of 14 cases of possible market manipulation, which have been sent to RAAEY for investigation for two months, a process that the Greek regulator has initiated.