Greeks unable to settle unpaid electricity bills

It is difficult for Greek households and companies to pay their electricity bills, data provided by an electric power company show.

According to the recent data from the Public Power Corporation (PPC), Greece’s biggest electric power company, unpaid bills of Greek consumers total some 1.3 billion euros ($1.76 billion) at present, rising at an average rate of 4 million euros ($5.43 million) per day.

Low- and medium-voltage consumers, who are mostly households and very small enterprises, have the largest share of the debt.

These categories owe an estimated 600 million euros ($813 million), almost 65 percent of which belongs to households.

Greece has been at the epicenter of the eurozone debt crisis and is experiencing its seventh year of recession, while harsh austerity measures have left tens of thousands of people without jobs. It has relied on international rescue loans for economic survival since 2010.

According to reports, one in every four Greek workers is currently unemployed, banks are in a shaky position, and pensions and salaries have been slashed by about 40 percent.

Greek youths have also been badly affected, and more than half of them are unemployed.

The long-drawn-out eurozone debt crisis, which began in Greece in late 2009 and reached Italy, Spain, and France in 2011, is viewed as a threat not only to Europe but also to many of the world’s other developed economies.