The main power utility PPC’s administration has called upon the country’s energy-intensive  consumers to take part in two-way discussions aimed at setting new industrial electricity tariffs for 2018.

Current industrial tariffs expire at the end of this year but have already received two-month extensions, as specified in sector regulations, according to PPC sources. The utility aims to set new industrial tariffs as soon as possible.

It remains unknown whether PPC will seek to increase existing industrial tariffs, which, from the industrial sector’s perspective, is unimaginable.

PPC’s 15 percent discount for punctual payment of medium-voltage electricity bills, an offer not made to high-voltage consumers, has more or less equated tariff prices for the two categories.

Meanwhile, the utility’s boss Manolis Panagiotakis reitereated an offer made to electricity producers, inviting them to participate in the bailout-required sell-off of PPC lignite-fired units, mines and a construction permit for a new facility in exchange for favorable tariff deals. Environmental upgrades needed at certain PPC facilities, including Amynteo in the country’s north, were also linked to this offer.

PPC, short of needed cash, is seeking private-sector investors to finance these environmental upgrades in exchange for lower-priced electricity.