ATHENS — Unless immediate measures are taken to regulate and rationalise the electricity, gas and emissions markets, the crisis will be repeated, market sources said on Wednesday, accusing the European Union of poor planning of the green transition.

They underlined, however, that the policy of decarbonisation is economically inevitable and morally imperative, while noting that the government's decision to phase out lignite was correct and allowed the country to save time and improve its international image, which led to a reduction in lending rates. Today, they added, coal-powered electricity generation needs to be retained for reasons of balance.

"We all agree that the green transition is the only way. The question is which path we will follow. The road that has been chosen has significant costs for European consumers without necessarily achieving the desired results for the environment," they said.

Proposed measures at a European level include excluding traders from trading in carbon dioxide prices, ensuring adequate gas supply during the transition period to complete decarbonisation and changing the operating model of the electricity market, so that the final price is not set by the most expensive unit – as is the case today – but on average by all the units participating in the market (eg gas units, renewable sources, lignite-burning power plants, etc.) The same sources are, however, against the proposals of the Regulatory Authority for Energy (RAE) for imposing a cap on the fluctuation limits of electricity retail prices, arguing that it was not right to impose operating at a loss.