The Greek Public Power Corporation (PPC) on Tuesday reported pre-tax profits of 46.6 million euros in the January-September period, from a loss of 416.8 million euros in the same period last year. PPC said the third quarter of 2020 was the fourth successive quarter of increased operating profitability with repeated EBITDA of 238.7 million euros, from 87.6 million in the third quarter of 2019, while in the nine-month period it rose seven-fold to 696 million euros from 96.9 million last year.
Turnover eased 2.4 pct in the nine-month period because of a 14.2 pct decline in the volume of sales reflecting a loss in market share and decline in demand. Domestic demand for electricity power fell 6.2 pct to 41,687 GWh in the January-September period from 44,435 GWh in the same period last year. Production and import of electricity covered 38.8 pct of total demand in the nine-month period, down from 47.2 pct in 2019. Lignite production dropped 50.6 pct. Spending on fuel, CO2, electricity purchases fell by 885.6 million euros in the January-September period, while payroll fell 58 million euros due to retirement schemes.
PPC is the leading power generation and supply company in Greece engaged in the generation, distribution and sale of electricity to consumers.