Greece will work on a "bailout" for Public Power Corp .: the Minister of Energy

ATHENS (Reuters) – The newly-elected conservative government in Greece will work on a plan for public utility Public Power Corp. (PPC), which is "on the verge of collapse," Energy Minister Kostis Hatzidakis said Tuesday.

Hatzidakis, currently vice-president of the conservative party, dismissed rumors that the new government was considering selling a stake in the public service, saying investors showed no interest. He will be sworn in as Minister of Energy later in the day.

"The top priority is a CPP bailout," he told Greek TV channel ANT1, adding that the government would take steps to address the problem in the interest of Greek consumers and consumers. CPP workers.

The conservative NDP party won a landslide victory in Sunday's parliamentary elections on Syriza, a left-wing party. He promised to unlock and boost investment projects in the country from a series of bailouts last year.

With a market share of around 70% in the national retail market, PPC is struggling to clean up its finances and has to cash more than 2.4 billion euros in unpaid invoice arrears when of the country's debt crisis that began in late 2009.

The electricity company, 51% owned by the state, must also sell electricity to alternative producers at below-cost prices, to help open the market Greek retail under a bailout agreement concluded between Greece and its international lenders.

This cost and the higher costs badociated with carbon rights were among the factors explaining the significant loss reported by PPC for 2018.

However, Syriza had rejected the idea that PPC was about to collapse, while the general manager of the company said that the utility would become profitable this year. He plans to securitize some of the backlog of unpaid bills in order to improve liquidity and recover the claims of what he has called strategic defaulters.