Shocking was the position of the lawyer of the Consumer Institute (IN.KA.), Alexis Alexopoulos, in the morning show of OPEN, “Hellenic Hour”, regarding the indexation clause and the excess profits of electricity providers.
Alexopoulos said that, according to a former chairman of the Energy Regulatory Authority, «the indexation clause has nothing to do with the cost of energy but only with pumping out excess profits». He added that the excess profits of energy providers, according to the calculations of the Statistical Service of the Federation of Greek Consumers, far exceed the announced amount of 600 million euros and reach 1.5 billion euros. The difference, in fact, «the companies have a way of showing it, not as excess profits, but as excess revenue», he said.
«The issue is one. The clause is illegal. It is opaque and abusive.» He made it clear that this is the reason for the lawsuits being drafted by IN.KA's lawyers. «Consumers will get their money back through lawsuits in the courts of Athens,» he insisted.
«The issue is this,» Mr. Alexopoulos said. «The price of electricity is manipulated on the energy exchange. How the companies show it as profit will be seen when the P.A.E. discloses its data, at which time we will give a well-founded answer,» he stressed.
Mr Alexopoulos then shocked the panel and the viewers, referring to «looting of consumers» bills". In fact, he backed up this assessment by giving the example of a consumer's bill, which jumped to 4500 euros (from around 700 before the clause was activated) and calculating the refund that comes back to him under the new measures (i.e. the subsidy policy measures recently announced by the Prime Minister and the staff of the ministers responsible for this matter) at 3.5 euros!
Naturally, the studio was in chaos, with the presenters unable to believe what they had just heard and the show's financial advisor intervening, making a conflicting mathematical calculation. The show then took a grotesque turn with constant quoting of calculations, in the form of financial skimming, with the presenter, Akis Pavlopoulos concluding with the wish that Mr Alexopoulos is the one who is wrong, otherwise «there will be a lot of munchies».
