Public Power Corporation (PPC) is heading for a financial blackout as unpaid electricity bills are growing at an annual rate of 30 per cent, having reached 1.7 billion euros at the end of July from 1.3 billion euros last year.

More than half of that amount, or 960 million euros, concerns household bills. Some 430 million is owed by high-voltage consumers and 180 million by the broader state sector.

Judging by a further deterioration in bill payments since August, PPC officials estimate debts will soar to 2 billion euros by the end of the year.

The consequences on the corporation’s cash flow are already unmanageable, with PPC now unable to fulfil its own obligations to suppliers, power grid operator ADMIE and electricity market operator LAGIE. This means that the liquidity problem has been passed on to the whole power market chain.

Source: Kathimerini