The main power utility PPC plans to transform itself into a corporation selling electricity and natural gas, while also providing a range of energy cost-saving services, based on the operating models of major vertically integrated European corporations, the utility’s CEO, Manolis Panagiotakis, noted during a speech at the Capital Link Invest In Greece conference held in New York City.

Natural gas is intended to play a key role in the new corporate strategy being developed by PPC to combat various restrictions being imposed as part of the process to liberalize Greece’s electricity market and break the utility’s perennial dominance. PPC needs to reduce its electricity market share to less than 50 percent by 2020.

The corporation is also looking at the emerging electric car market as another important source for future earnings.

As part of its planned transformation, PPC recently signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with DEPA, the Public Gas Corporation, with the aim of supplying natural gas to regions of western Greece and the islands that do not possess LNG or CNG networks. This initiative comes as just a first step in PPC’s gas-related aspirations. The power utility plans to enter the Greek retail gas market as a competitive force, a move that will require major investments.

PPC will also focus on providing energy cost-saving services as a future activity. The utility had briefly offered such services to municipalities in 2008 without sustaining the effort. This field had interested previous PPC administrations but plans made were never put to practice.