Energy Minister Panos Skourletis is expecting proposals from the main power utility PPC next week ahead of the finalization of revisions to the current payback program offered to consumers owing overdue, unpaid electricity bills to the utility.

Energypress has been infomed that the maximum number of monthly installments to be permitted will be slightly increased from 36 at present. Any chance of doubling the number of installments allowed, as rumored, has apparently been ruled out.

Energy ministry officials in a position to know how much leniency PPC’s budget can handle explained that the number of maximum installments permitted by the payback program would be modestly increased.

A series of other revisions are also expected to help PPC rake in badly needed cash as remedy for its worsening cashflow problem. Deposit levels demanded from consumers as a prerequisite for qualification into the payback program are likely to be lowered.

PPC is expected to present the energy ministry with a detailed rundown of the number of installments it is currently offering consumers and the amounts they owe. In most cases, the actual number of installments being offered to troubled consumers is well below the upper limit of 36. Data provided by the utility indicates that the number of installments being offered, nationwide, at present averages less than 20.