PPC to offer €15,000 packages for voluntary retirement

The main power utility PPC’s administration intends to offer pension-aged staff members who have opted to keep working at the corporation packages worth 15,000 euros for voluntary retirement.

The utility is believed to now be finalizing the details of this retirement offer. The package is expected to be finalized at a board meeting scheduled for January 17, the utility announced.

In recent years, a growing number of long-serving state utility employees qualified for pensions have opted to carry on working, driven by financial reasons amid the ongoing recession.

At PPC, for example, the number of retirees has been diminishing. A total of 2,500 pension-aged company employees retired in 2010. This figure slowed to 1,500 in 2011 and fell to levels of between 600 and 700 in more recent years. Last year’s retirement tally at the utility plummeted to just 150 persons. PPC’s percentage of retiring employees has fallen from rougly 4 percent of its total workforce to 1.5 percent.

Troubled by cashflow problems as a result of a severely worsened unpaid receivables record amid the prolonged recession, PPC also needs to deal with bailout-required market share contractions in the retail electricity market and production.