State-controlled power utility PPC, expected to announce its 2021 financial results this month, will either post a minor profit or no profit at all as the company’s entire gain from energy-mix hedging, estimated at between 700 and 800 million euros, has been put to use for customer discounts and subsidies to help consumers cope with the energy crisis, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has noted in parliamentary debate.

PPC, strictly adhering to its business plan, is expected to post modest profit and robust operating profit for one or two years before offering dividends from 2024 onwards, a strategy that serves the interests of shareholders as well as customers.

The energy crisis over the past several months has greatly impacted energy companies across Europe. PPC has remained robust courtesy of its favorable hedging activity, enabling the company to return  resulting benefits to customers.

In many parts of Europe, energy companies have opted to return profit to consumers, either directly or indirectly, an energy-crisis support.

In Greece, RES special account surplus amounts, partially generated by the return of windfall profits in the RES, hydropower and lignite sectors, are being transferred to the Energy Transition Fund as support for electricity and natural gas bill subsidies for consumers.