The Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met at Megaros Maximos with the President of the European Investment Bank, Werner Hoyer.

During the meeting discussed the possibilities of further expanding Greece’s important, long-term cooperation with the EIB, the positive course of the Greek economy and its prospects, As well as need to deal with the consequences of the climate crisis, both at the level of prevention and at the level of adaptation.

Follow signing ceremony of a financing agreement regarding the project of smart meters by EIB Vice President Kyriakos Kakouris and DEDDIE CEO Anastasios Manos.

“I am glad to welcome you again to Athens. Much has been accomplished since your last visit. As you know, we finally regained investment grade, which has made us all very happy. I believe it is one important milestone»said the Prime Minister welcoming Mr. Hoyer at the Maximos Palace.

“I would like to thank you again for the excellent level of cooperation between Greece and the Bank. I think that the agreement we are signing today to finance smart meters is a very good indication of where we want to go in the future in terms of our climate change policies and ensuring that power systems are as efficient as possible. Households will have much better control over their accounts and will be able to save money, that’s what the smart meter is all about. They will own the consumption they do, in a much more transparent way,” said Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

“We had a very productive discussion with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. We discussed, among other things, last summer’s devastating floods and fires; These tragedies are one grim reminder of the dangers of climate change. They are called natural disasters, they are unnatural disasters, extreme phenomena that are the result of our global failure to protect our planet, over a long period of time.Mr. Hoyer pointed out after the signing ceremony.

“Perhaps the most important area of ​​all in mitigating the effects of climate change is energy networks. The upgrading of electricity networks is absolutely necessary to make possible the installation of new and more renewable energy sources, absolutely necessary to increase efficiency, absolutely necessary and vital to reduce energy bills for our citizens. The contract we signed today with the Greek distribution network operator highlights the EIB’s focus in this area. Smarter grids are a prerequisite for decarbonising our energy supply”noted the President of the European Investment Bank.

“I completely agree with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who has stated that investing in the energy transition is not enough”Werner Hoyer said in his deposition. “We need to support investments for adaptation to climate change. Adaptation to a warmer, more hostile climate and extreme weather. And I am pleased to assure you today that the EIB is in advanced talks with the Greek authorities for signing an important partnership that will help the country deal with the effects of these unnatural disasters. Our annual results from last year show that Greece is the largest beneficiary of EIB financing as a percentage of GDP. The ones we signed today are the latest examples of our firm support for the Greek economy.”

Its CEO DEDDIE, Anastasios Manosfor his part stated: “The European Investment Bank has always supported PPC Group and of course DEDDIE. We welcome the investment, in one of DEDDIE’s most emblematic projects that will rapidly transform and modernize the Greek energy market by upgrading the electricity distribution network, effectively paving the way for a successful energy transition. Smart meters and smart grids are essential to achieving all our energy goals. In the face of climate change, we need a more reliable, smarter grid now more than ever.”

Modernization of energy transmission infrastructure with a green and digital sign

The project concerns the supply and installation of a total of 7.3 million smart meters to serve all low voltage consumers. The new meters, of which 5.3 million will be single-phase and the rest will be three-phase, will be connected to an upgraded high-capacity telemetering centre.

The project is pivotal to the digital transformation of the network and to the achievement of national targets for the protection of the environment, which have been set in the framework of the European Union. It is expected to bring many and substantial benefits to consumers, as smart meters will allow them, among other things, to monitor energy use in real time, save resources, better plan their activities, participate in economically beneficial market programs and to have accurate pricing of their consumption.

DEDDIE and the participants in the energy market will also have significant operational benefitswhich is indirectly in the interest of society as a whole, given that the new infrastructure will facilitate the detection of technical losses and power thefts, while at the same time creating a much simpler service delivery ecosystem.

The completion of the investment is planned for 2030, but already at the end of this year, DEDDIE will be able to telemeter approximately 40% of the energy consumeda rate estimated to exceed 55% by the end of 2024.

The total budget of the project amounts to 1.2 billion eurosof which €150 million will be covered by European Investment Bank resources, supporting the first phase of replacing the old cash.