The assurance of little or no surcharge increases on electricity bills as a means of collecting and settling outstanding public service compensation (YKO) payments owed to PPC, made by energy minister Giorgos Stathakis just days ago, was confirmed by yesterday’s disclosure of the revised bailout terms, which sets a December, 2022 deadline for this issue’s settlement. A 2019 deadline was originally considered.

Once RAE determines, next month, the exact YKO amount that needs to be raised, the total amount will be divided over five years.

The bailout requires settlement of public service compensation (YKO) payments made by PPC but not yet received by the utility. Though HEDNO, the Hellenic Electricity Distribution Network Operator, has yet to provide related data, RAE is expected to set the amount to be recovered by PPC at 400 million euros, less than a at 735 million-euro claim announced by the utility.

This 400 million-euro amount could drop further if special consumption tax (EFK) payments made for fuel used by PPC to generate electricity on the non-interconencted islands for one year are returned to the utility from the state budget. This EFK amount is estimated to be 100 million euros. Its return to PPC would reduce the outstanding YKO amount to 300 million euros, which works out to 60 million euros per year over a five-year period. Factoring on the country’s 7.5 million electricity consumers, the additional YKO surcharge, per consumer, works out to an average of 8 euros, annually.

As a result, assuming the 100 million-euro fuel-related special consumption tax amount is returned PPC, the utility can expect to receive 160 million euros during the YKO recovery program’s first year.