Greece's dominant electricity utility, the Public Power Corporation (PPC), wants the government to impose charges on rivals who cherry-pick its most lucrative clients, a company official said on Thursday.
PPC, Western Europe's last state electricity company to lose its monopoly, faces rising competition from rivals entering the power generation and supply business as Greece opens up its energy market to comply with European Union laws.
PPC has asked the government to require rivals to turn over part of their revenues to PPC as compensation for its costs to run the power grid and provide cheap electricity to some customers, Christos Poseidon, PPC's general manager of supply, told Reuters.
«This isn't healthy competition,» Poseidon said. «PPC's current tariff structure makes it too easy for competing suppliers to win clients.» The proposed access charge would create a level playing field between PPC, whose electricity prices are regulated by the government, and new entrants who benefit from low wholesale prices to undercut the incumbent's tariffs for top-paying clients, PPC argues.
(KATHIMERINI, 05/02-03/2009)