Electricity tariff hikes alone will not suffice to ensure power utility PPC raises an additional 750 million euros needed to stabilize the company balance sheet.
The planned tariff hikes, expected to be about 10 percent, promise to rake in a sum of between 400 and 450 million euros, over a year, meaning the energy ministry and the state-controlled utility’s new CEO Giorgos Stassis must apply additional means to raise the missing amount.
This measure, whose implementation is not expected sooner than September, should secure 110 million euros for PPC’s coffers by the end of the year.
Officials intend to avoid bigger electricity bills for consumers by offsetting the tariff hikes through a reduction of a RES-supporting ETMEAR surcharge included on bills. This could prove to be a tricky equation for authorities if payments to renewable energy producers for output are not going to be affected.
Energy ministry officials forecast a RES special account surplus of 200 million euros as a result of higher CO2 emission right costs, but some of this amount could just be nominal.
RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, handling the ETMEAR reduction, will also need to factor in the cancellation of a RES-supporting surcharge for suppliers, which came into effect in January as a result of the RES special account’s surplus.
Authorities will be working against the clock for an overall solution for PPC by September 24, when Ernst & Young, the utility’s certified auditor, is due to issue a new report on the utility’s financial standing. PPC and the energy ministry desperately want to avoid any further unfavorable news on the utility.
PPC is also relying on the return of a public service compensation (YKO) amount concerning 2011 and worth 190 million euros, as well as inflow from the securitization of 400 to 500 million euros of unpaid receivables.