PPC customers with arrears drawn by new payback program

Power utility PPC’s revised installment-based payback program for customers behind on electricity bill payments, launched earlier this week with lower deposit requirements and a new telephone service option intact, has been well received.

Some 5,000 payback agreements were reached on October 8 and 9, when the revised program was launched, 2,000 of these over the telephone, according to sources.

The new payback program offers easier qualification terms for customers with arrears, but requalifying, if installment deadlines are not honored, will be more difficult.

The recently appointed administration at PPC, whose unpaid receivables total 2.7 billion euros, is hoping the revised payback system will keep generating greater cash inflow, needed to help secure the corporation’s sustainability.

PPC is also expecting public service compensation (YKO) returns estimated at 200 million euros for services offered between 2007 and 2011. This amount will come from the state budget, once related legislation has been ratified.

Other supportive measures already implemented at state-controlled PPC include tariff hikes expected to increase the utility’s annual revenue figure by more than 500 million euros.

PPC is also securitizing unpaid receivables. This move could secure a further 400 million euros for the utility.

Besides these cash injections, PPC, Greece’s largest corporation, needs to be bolstered by a new business plan promoting alternative business activities for sufficient revenues over the long term. It is being worked on.