Time is running out for the troubled state-controlled nickel producer Larco to resolve its debt issues with the power utility PPC, which has set a January 1 deadline for its electricity supply to the industrial producer.

Larco now owes PPC over 300 million euros. Officials are scrambling for a solution, still not found until yesterday, to avoid an electricity supply cut, sources informed.

Undoubtedly also serving as an indirect warning for Larco, PPC yesterday lashed out at another beleaguered industrial firm, the steel producer Halyvourgiki, which owes the power utility more than 30 million euros.

In a company announcement yesterday, PPC criticized Halyvourgiki for breaching the terms of their agreement, adding it has already taken appropriate action to compensate for damages and determine if trickery has been at play.

PPC claims Halyvourgiki has continued being supplied electricity at favorable tariffs, reserved for the utility’s industrial consumers, despite not having produced steel and related products since 2015.