Austria's biggest utility Verbund (VERB.VI: Quote) said on Thursday
it will pull out of its operations in the Greek retail market for
electricity because it does not count the country among its key foreign
markets.
The move could benefit Greece's dominant power company
PPC (DEHr.AT: Quote), which has seen upstart rivals such as Verbund
snatch thousands of clients by undercutting its regulated prices.
"(Verbund)
seeks to gradually decrease its activities in secondary markets and has
decided ... to withdraw from the joint venture Verbund APT-Energa
Hellas," the company said in a statement distributed in Athens.
Verbund
owns 55 percent of Greek unit APT-Energa Hellas, with a local Greek
partner holding the balance. Verbund said it has decided to leave Greece
because it will focus on Austria, Germany, France, Italy and Turkey.
PPC
has lately said it will reduce the prices it charges top-paying
corporate clients to recover some of the business lost to rival
suppliers.
"This will make PPC less of a sitting duck than it is
now," said Paris Mantzavras, an analyst at HSBC in Athens. "It will be
more difficult for rivals to cherrypick its clients."
Greece's
electricity market is undergoing change as the country's debt-laden
government has been forced by the EU and the IMF to liberalise the
sector as part of an 110 billion-euro bailout deal.