ATHENS – After warning that Greece’s state-run Public Power Corporation electronic company was on the verge of going lights out because of a mountain of debt and unpaid bills, another audit has shown first-half results for 2019 have staved it off, Energy Minister Costis Hatzidakis said.
A similar audit by Ernst & Young for 2018, under the previous ruling Radical Left SYRIZA government, showed the company’s survival was at risk, as he had repeatedly said after New Democracy took office following its win in the July 7 snap elections.
Hatzidakis said a “very serious development was avoided, one with grave repercussions for the Greek economy,” a direct reference to PPC’s possible bankruptcy that could have affected Greek households and businesses dramatically.
The new audit showed that Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA) fell in the first half of the year to 117.5 million euros ($129.26 million) from 182.9 million euros ($201.2 million) from the year before.
SYRIZA, in which critics said was a bid to curry favor after former Premier Alexis Tsipras reneged on anti-austerity promises and unleashed an avalanche of tax hikes, had at times allowed those who couldn’t pay their electric bills not to have their power turned off.
It wasn’t explained how there could be such a dramatic turnaround in the first half of the year when SYRIZA was still in power and its policies were as well and with worry, the worst isn’t over yet as the company is still struggling with big losses.
Hatzidakis said the government will bring measures to free PPC from what he said were stifling state regulations and as a move goes on to partially privatize the grid manager DEDDIE. All lignite power plants will be closed by 2028, the government had also said.
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