Smaller power suppliers on the brink

A shadow has been cast over the local power retail market, in which there are 18 active companies, including Public Power Corporation. With a handful of exceptions, all are showing losses from the supply side, including PPC, which holds an 82 percent share.

As concerns grow over possible corporate collapses, especially for smaller companies, the Regulatory Authority for Energy (RAE) will conduct cost checks and has called on five retailers who appear to have not paid grid operator ADMIE and network manager DEDDIE the fees collected from consumers to appear at a hearing at the end of the week.

It is hardly a market secret that the concentration process has started, as many small companies are seeking a lifeline from the bigger players.

Sources say Protergia was close to a deal for buying out a small firm but it was not completed. Motor Oil, which is looking for a way into the power market, has according to sources been negotiating with small electricity companies. Minor market players have also eyed cooperation with more consolidated companies such as Heron and Elpedison.

Rumors, meanwhile, abound that at least two smaller companies are on the brink of collapsing, which would trigger a domino of bankruptcies prompted by insecure consumers taking their business away.