Creditors inquire into PPC’s financial plight
The mission chiefs of Greece’s creditors, currently in Athens, asked Energy Minister Giorgos Stathakis to update them on the situation at loss-making Public Power Corporation, particularly on its extremely poor performance in 2018 and the measures that will be taken to ensure the utility’s sustainability.
Stathakis tried to downplay the inspectors’ concerns, arguing that the recorded losses of more than 900 million euros are misleading with regards to the company’s future, as they are allegedly the product of coincidence, related either to external conditions or to factors that will not be repeated in the following years.
On the issue of bill payments, the prime minister’s announcement on Tuesday for the slashing of the value-added tax rate on electricity from 13 to 6 percent is set to ease the burden on consumers and make it easier for them to pay their bills. This should also improve the utility’s cash flow and reduce the money it pays to the state for VAT from unpaid bills.
The VAT cut may also become a means of indirect support to PPC’s liquidity in the case that the corporation decides against passing the rate cut onto its customers.
