recession

The level of energy bill unpaid receivables appears destined to rise again, a survey conducted by GSEVEE, the Hellenic Confederation of Professionals, Craftsmen and Merchants, has shown.

According to its results, 16.5 percent of small and medium-sized enterprises have warned they will not be able to meet energy bill demands over the next six months.

This figure is slightly higher than the 15.2 percent of enterprises that have left behind bad debt for energy suppliers, meaning the overall level of unpaid receivables appears headed for a new rise.

The GSEVEE survey reported even more worrying results from the hospitality sector as it showed that roughly one in three eateries, or 30.9 percent, declared they expect to not be able to cover electricity or natural gas bills over the next six months.

Recent energy cost increases by suppliers and the threat of further hikes as a result of a combination of various factors in international markets threaten to place energy consumers under even greater pressure.

The energy cost hikes will have a knock-on effect throughout the market, increasing food, raw material and fuel prices, and, as a result, reducing disposable incomes and making payment of energy bills even more demanding.

The unpaid receivables issue that has troubled the domestic market over the past decade or so of recession had begun easing off prior to the pandemic.

Power utility PPC, holding the lion’s share of the retail electricity market, has carried the heaviest unpaid receivables burden, which, at one point, had even exceeded three billion euros.

The replacement of conventional power meters around the country with digital power meters planned by distribution network operator DEDDIE/HEDNO, a long-awaited project now scheduled to commence in 2022 and be completed by 2030, will reduce electricity theft by an average of 5.1 percent per year between 2020 and 2031, eventually reducing it to 0.2 percent of overall consumption, a level registered in 2003 and 2004, RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy has projected.

Electricity theft in Greece has risen twentyfold over the past fifteen years. Even though DEDDIE/HEDNO has pointed out that the pandemic-induced economic slowdown since 2020 will raise obstacles in the effort to reduce electricity theft, RAE insists the installation of smart meters will directly combat the problem by enabling officials to swiftly identify where electricity theft is being committed.

Electricity theft in Greece has risen from 0.2 percent of overall consumption in 2003 and 2004, to 1.1 percent between 2011 and 2013, 3.9 percent in 2015 and 2016, and 4.4 percent in 2018 and 2019, official data has shown.

Energy bill unpaid receivables set to rebound, survey shows

Smart meter installations to combat rising electricity theft