Hellenic Electricity Distribution Network Operator

Greece's biggest electricity utility, Public Power Corporation (PPC), has pushed back the deadline for the expression of interest for a majority stake in the country's sole grid operator DEDDIE, it said on Friday.

PPC, which is 51% owned by the state, had set January 29 as the deadline for the submission of non-binding bids for DEDDIE.

Greece will kick off the sale of a minority stake in power distribution operator HEDNO in September, Energy Minister Kostis Hatzidakis said on Friday.

Speaking on the sidelines of the signing of a loan agreement between the European Investment Bank (EIB) and PPC, Hatzidakis told reporters that the sale process for a 49% stake will begin in September.

Energy Minister Kostis Hatzidakis on Thursday said he believed an auditor's report on the second-quarter results of troubled public power utility PPC will deem it viable, following the measures announced by the government and the company to shore up its finances.

The new government's strategic plan for streamlining and restructuring Public Power Corporation will start with the part-privatization of the Hellenic Electricity Distribution Network Operator (DEDDIE).

Stores, businesses and houses around the Greek capital's main Syntagma square and Athens' Cathedral were left without electricity on Monday morning due to a breakdown at a public power utility's (PPC) substation.
Greece's power distribution agency DEDDIE said it was working to restore electricity which is expected at about 11:30 a.m.

The government and troubled Public Power Corporation are working on a plan for the privatization of the distribution network.

That is the most important asset of PPC after the Independent Power Transmission Operator (ADMIE), as it has guaranteed and regulated revenues that will definitely attract investors and is expected to be sold quickly, unlike the coal-fired plants.

Self-proclaimed anarchist group Rouvikonas damaged the offices of Greece's power distribution agency DEDDIE in central Athens on Friday afternoon.
Members of the group threw paint and pelted windows with stones to protest against a "power cut spree" by power utility PPC over the past months, according to a post by Rouvikonas on an anti-establishment website later in the day.

The 622 million euros that Public Power Corporation (PPC) has collected from the sale of the Independent Power Transmission Operator (ADMIE) will not remain in its coffers for long, since its total obligations to suppliers, contractors, market entities and others exceed 1.8 billion euros.

Electricity theft is costing Greece's dominant power utility Public Power Corporation (PPC) about 170 million euros in lost income each year, it said on Friday, citing estimates by the Greek energy regulator.

PPC has already been hit by 2.2 billion euros in unpaid bills as Greece's seven-year economic crisis leaves a growing number of households struggling to pay.

Reuters news agency writes of the devastating impact harsh austerity measures have had on the lives of everyday Greeks, as four in ten citizens have had their electricity cut off due to their inability to cover their bills.