Unpaid bills send PPC into the red

Greece’s main electricity supplier Public Power Corporation (PPC) plunged to a loss last year as it set aside hundreds of millions of euros to cover the cost of bills left unpaid by customers hit by years of economic crisis.

PPC, which is 51 percent state-owned, said on Tuesday it made a loss of 102.5 million euros last year, compared with a net profit of 91.3 million euros in 2014.

Provisions for unpaid bills and litigation more than doubled, reaching 950 million euros last year, as a protracted recession and capital controls introduced in June took a toll on households and businesses. Overdue bills are estimated to have exceeded 2 billion euros since a debt crisis broke out in Greece in 2010.

PPC’s chief executive Emmanuel Panagiotakis said bills in arrears are an issue of “strategic importance” which if not addressed will affect the company’s investment plan.

[Reuters]