Industries denounce new power hikes
The Hellenic Union of Industrial Consumers of Energy (UNICEN) denounced on Monday upcoming power rate increases, describing them as a plan to undermine Greece’s industry and the economy’s recovery effort.
UNICEN said that “certain authorities are not only attempting to abolish discounts granted by law to industries based on their profiles and energy costs, but they are also imposing unjustified hikes on rates, hurting the sustainability of energy intensive industries.”
The union pointed to a conscious effort to undermine the target of increasing the industry’s contribution to the gross domestic product, to employment and investments, and called on the government to “make the right decision so as not to put at risk the industry’s recovery and the target of increasing employment.”
In its statement UNICEN attacks the management of Public Power Corporation, referring to “a demand by the corporation for new hikes, beyond the already increased cost on carbon dioxide emissions, that is neither fair nor sufficiently justified, while the attempted abolition of discounts constitutes favoritism.”
Emission cost hikes and the abolition of industrial discount are set to increase energy costs by 30 percent for Greek industries.
