Power utility PPC, burdened by unpaid receivables worth 2.7 billion euros, appears to have run out of patience with customers owing sizable electricity bill amounts despite having been assessed as financially capable, if not affluent.

The utility intends to set an example by pushing ahead with a high-profile case involving the owner of a 972 square-meter mansion in Kifissia, an up-market northern suburb of Athens, who will face asset confiscation procedures if a 24,000-euro amount owed to PPC is not settled immediately.

The owner of this property has ignored related court decisions and also applied illegal means to qualify for a subsidized electricity program (KOT) normally reserved for underprivileged households.

The case was disclosed by PPC’s outgoing chief Manolis Panagiotakis in 2017.

An investigation launched by PPC a couple of years ago led to the discovery of many other such cases involving property owners in various up-market parts of Athens who have secured unwarranted electricity bill subsidies and refused to pay bills.

Some 60,000 households are responsible for 800,000 euros of PPC’s unpaid receivables, the newly appointed energy minister Costis Hatzidakis noted recently while presenting his ministry’s program.