Gov’t disagrees with sale of PPC plants
The representatives of Greece’s creditors confirmed the government’s fears when they asked for 40 percent of the Public Power Corporation’s lignite and hydroelectric plants to be sold, but Athens voiced its disagreement. The experts from the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and the European Central Bank met yesterday with General Secretary for Energy Costas Mathioudakis and informed him of the details in the article in Greece’s agreement with its creditors regarding the liberalization of the wholesale electricity market and the rationalization of power rates in order to boost competition in the retail market. Sources suggest this will entail political decisions by September regarding the sale of two-fifths of the lignite and hydroelectric units of PPC but Mathioudakis responded that the government does not consider this to be the best way to open up the market. «We do not agree with this proposal because it presents serious legal and technical problems,» Mathioudakis stated after the meeting. When the foreign representatives asked him to suggest an alternative plan, he responded that he has no such jurisdiction and that it is a matter that would have to be discussed at a ministerial level.
