Greece, institutions agree on ADMIE split from PPC, disagree on management issues

Gazzetta team
Greece, institutions agree on ADMIE split from PPC, disagree on management issues
A meeting between Environment and Energy Minister Panos Skourletis and the institutions representing Greece's creditors ended on Wednesday with agreement on splitting the country's power transmission grid operator ADMIE from the Public Power Corporation (PPC) but disagreement on whether ADMIE's management should remain under state control, sources said.

The two sides agreed that ADMIE should be separated from the PPC through the creation of a new company in which the Greek state has a 51 pct controlling share. The state will initially have 100 pct ownership, after which 49 pct will be sold to private investors based on a specific schedule.
They also agreed on the form of compensation that PPC will receive for the split over time, as well as the various methods that will be involved, such as the transfer of a part of PPC's debt to the new company, the offsetting of some 400 million euros in PPC obligations to ADMIE and others.
The Greek government continues to object to handing over ADMIE's management to the private sector, however.

The two sides are to meet again on Thursday, without Skourletis who is due in Sofia, Bulgaria for the signing of an agreement for the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) gas pipeline.

According to the same sources, an agreement on ADMIE is possible and much less "thorny" than the prior actions that are to be discussed after Christmas concerning auctions for lignite coal and PPC hydroelectric power that are planned in order to facilitate the opening of the electricity market. The two sides currently disagree on the starting prices, with the PPC and the ministry wanting costs fully covered.