At 550 million euros the trade balance benefit from electricity exports arrives before the year is out as exports move to record levels, 25 times higher than last year.

The development, in addition to economic significance (relief of the current account balance), also has a geopolitical significance as Greece becomes a supplier of neighboring countries and the European market) but also has an energy dimension. Which is the fact that the Greek system for a significant period of time has been operating more competitively than the systems of the neighboring energy exporting countries, otherwise there would obviously be no ground for exports. This does not mean that wholesale prices in SE Europe do not remain at higher levels than in Western Europe, due to structural weaknesses of the internal electricity market.

As the Deputy Minister of Environment and Energy, Nikos Tsafos, points out in his statement to APE: “In 2024, our country succeeded in becoming a net exporter of electricity for the first time since 2000. In fact, in 2019, after four and a half years with SYRIZA in power, electricity imports had come to cover 18% of our needs, a fact that first, it burdened our trade balance with 400 million euros, secondly it increased the prices in our effort to attract energy and thirdly it exposed us to various risks such as a cable or plant failure in another country. On the contrary, in 2024 electricity exports had the effect of showing a trade surplus of 122 million euros. This is an extremely positive development as if our imports had stayed at the levels of 2019, for example, with the prices of 2024, it would cost us about 1 billion euros. Therefore, the fact that we managed to become energy exporters within five years reflects the comparative advantage that our country has now acquired in the production of electricity and is undoubtedly a positive legacy for the future”.

Speaking last week at the seventh Renewable & Storage forum, Mr. Tsafos typically mentioned that nine out of ten days we are exporters and instead of looking for imports, today we are looking to sell energy”.

According to ELSTAT data, in 2019 electricity imports reached a value of 500.6 million Euros while exports was only 100.6 million Therefore, the balance was negative by 400 million at the expense of our country. In 2025, during the first 8 months for which there are data, electricity imports approached 500 million and exports 650 million. Therefore, the balance became positive by 150 million Euros, which means that the total benefit compared to 2019 is 550 million. Obviously, by the end of the year, the benefit will increase.

According to ADMIE data for the first half of 2025 the balance (exports minus imports) widened from 22 gigawatt hours for the whole of 2024 to 571 GWh for the January-June period, as electricity exports hit a record high. This performance comes after the 2024 milestone, when Greece – as ADMIE notes – turned for the first time into a net exporter of electricity, reversing a tradition of decades of import balance. This development is mainly due to the addition of new production capacity from renewable energy sources, the total capacity of which currently exceeds 16 gigawatts.