Greek electricity monopoly Public Power Corp. SA (PPC.AT) has been fined EUR449,100 for air pollution following an audit, the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change said Thursday.

"The fine was imposed because PPC discharged pollution into the atmosphere, because it failed to install anti-pollution technology and because it failed to measure pollution levels at several of its sites," the ministry said in a statement.

The fine related to practises carried out by PPC last year. To prevent them from recurring, the ministry said it has agreed with PPC to draft a five-year program involving environmental investments and tighter pollution targets for its generating plants and coal mines.

For the three months to March 31, the state-controlled company reported a net profit of EUR257.5 million and total revenue of EUR1.49 billion.

However, PPC Chief Executive Artouros Zervos has previously said to Dow Jones Newswires: "Due to the implementation of European regulations PPC will be hit by very high costs for CO2 emissions from 2013 onwards."

Zervos has estimated that CO2 emissions could cost the company EUR800 million a year, but analysts have put the figure closer to EUR1.2 billion.

The Greek state holds 51% of PPC and is under increasing pressure from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union to liberalize the country's electricity sector and break up the monopoly.
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