The main power utility PPC’s share of electricity being produced in Greece has registered a significant drop, even though the utility’s lignite-fired power stations and hydropower facilities have continued to operate as monopolies, despite a bailout condition requiring the utility to reduce its market shares.

Data released by LAGIE, the Electricity Market Operator, showed that PPC’s 72.06 percent share of electricity production registered in December fell to 65.18 percent in January. The decline has been attributed to the increased production levels achieved by privately run natural gas-fueled power stations as well as renewable energy (RES) facilities.

Privately run natural gas-fueled power stations increased their share of electricity production to 18.37 percent from 10.75 percent, while the production level of PPC’s natural gas-fueled power stations fell from 21.69 percent to 14.55 percent of the total. The share of electricity produced by the utility’s lignite-fired stations fell to 43.37 percent from 45.92 percent.

Overall electricity demand in Greece fell by 2.86 percent, year-on-year, in January, the LAGIE data showed. Breaking this figure down into voltage-related categories, low-voltage consumption fell a considerable 5.7 percent. The consumption drop was more subdued in the medium-voltage category, falling 1.87 percent. On the contrary, high-voltage consumption increased by 16.37 percent.