Power utility PPC has settled most of its outstanding debt owed to operators and contractors, reducing the amount from 900 million euros in 2019 to 70 million euros at present, the figure with which the corporation expects to end the year, energypress sources have informed.

During the country’s ten-year recession, prior to the pandemic, PPC’s debt owed to operators and contractors had peaked at nearly one billion euros.

The corporation now owes 50 million euros to contractors and 20 million euros to the three market operators – DAPEEP, the RES market operator; IPTO, the power grid operator; and DEDDIE/HEDNO, the distribution network operator – latest company data has shown, the sources noted.

Besides benefitting PPC, which, for years, was embroiled in a series of legal battles with operators, contractors and equipment suppliers, the debt reduction is also helping offer market stability.

Other suppliers have had difficulties keeping up with payments to operators during the energy crisis and its narrower profit margins. If PPC, the dominant supplier, was also delaying its payments to operators at present, the energy market may have been in an unstable condition.

The total amount currently owed by electricity suppliers to the market operators is estimated at 350 million euros, making PPC’s 20 million-euro owed just a fraction of the sum.