PPC announces Q1 2019 losses of 205.1 mln€; utility counters that results do not include recent rebates of 121.2 mln€

The Public Power Corp. (PPC) on Friday reported first quarter 2019 losses of 205.1 million euros, after taxes, an increasingly poor performance by Greece’s dominant electricity utility. The state-run company had reported 12.6 million euros in losses in the corresponding period of 2018.

EBITDA losses reached 51.3 million euros.

Nevertheless, the utility’s management issued a statement saying the results do not provide a true picture of PPC’s performance, given that results do not include a 21.9-million-euro rebate paid by the state for subsidized power to remote areas and low-income consumers – for the 2012-2016 period – as well as a 99.3-million-euro rebate from a surplus in a special fund that collects a fee – imposed on electricity bills – for renewable energy. The latter rebate was transferred to PPC only this month.

PPC blamed much of the losses on hikes in the price of natural gas (by 32.5 percent); a higher median system rate (by 33.6 percent); an increase in the cost of purchasing C02 emission rights land a higher burden from so-called NOME power auction of future power production.