Electricity theft and unpaid receiables are continuing to severely affect the main power utility PPC’s cashflow, related figures published yesterday by the super privatization fund have highlighted.

Electricity theft has risen by 270 percent since 2011, when unbilled consumption was estimated to be worth 359 million euros. This figure rose to 970 million euros in 2016, the figures showed.

The biggest rise in electricity theft was experienced in 2014, when unbilled electricity consumption rose to 826 million euros from 600 million euros. In 2015, unbilled electricity consumption rose by 138 million euros, to 964 million euros from 826 million euros.

As for bad debt forecasts, the figure rose from 634 million euros in 2011 to 2.766 billion euros in 2016. The worst years were 2015, when the bad debt forecast rose by 867 million euros; 2013, when the forecast rose by 362 million euros; and 2016, when it rose by 346 million euros.