By Chryssa Liaggou

The final plan for the privatization of Public Power Corporation (PPC) provides for the concession of a small part of the company’s assets to private investors and a restructured PPC that in future will seek a strategic investor.

The project, drafted along the lines of Italy’s ENEL, is still at a very early stage but has already secured the preliminary approval of the three parties that form the government coalition as well as the country’s international creditors.

The Energy Ministry is currently fine-tuning the details of the plan with HSBC, which is serving as PPC’s privatization consultant, so that the country’s creditors can examine the final version by end-February. However the project is not expected to be completed until three years from now, with the creditors’ reported consent as they acknowledge the complexity of the project.

The PPC spinoff plan provides for a vertical company like the existing power giant. It will include production units powered by lignite, natural gas and hydroelectrics and the employees working at the portfolio to go up for sale, as well as be involved in the sale of power. It has been agreed that the total power to be conceded will remain within 30 percent of the total installed capacity of PPC in the interconnected system (not including the islands), i.e. around 3,000 megawatts.

Alongside the privatization plan, in association with the Regulatory Authority for Energy, the ministry is moving ahead with the necessary reforms to the electricity market for its sanitization and full liberalization.