Prosecutor orders probe into delays in ELTA’s power bill payments

Athens' First-Instance Prosecution Office ordered on Wednesday an investigation into the culpability of Greece's postal service ELTA and Public Power Corporation (PPC), after it was revealed the former had been withholding dozens of millions of euros in payments of electricity bills made by consumers, instead of passing them on to the power company.

The request by Elias Zagoreos comes after hundreds of customers lodged complaints early in March saying they had paid their electricity bills but the sums had not reached PPC.

As the bills appeared to be overdue, customers also lost the 15 percent discount that the power giant grants.

The investigation will look into ELTA's actions and in whether PPC took appropriate action to prevent the accumulation of debt and claim the amounts due.

The total amount the postal services provider seems to have withheld from PPC bill payments is estimated between 45 million and 50 million, with the union of PPC administrative employees putting that figure at over 60 million euros.

PPC faced a similar problem with ELTA in March 2017, when the amount due to the utility had come to 19.5 million euros. That was eventually paid after PPC threatened ELTA with legal action.