PPC withstood the weight of 500 million of the energy crisis

PPC is close to achieving this year’s target of recurring operating profitability (EBITDA) of 850 million euros, despite the heavy burdens borne by the energy crisis.

The strategy of the management of George Stassis to offset the risk in the European and domestic market (price hedging) as well as to adapt its energy mix to electricity generation with defensive characteristics, allowed the public company not to deviate from the commitment to repeat at the end of 2021 of last year’s EBITDA.

According to the analysis of the financial results of the company for the nine months of the year, energy costs jumped to unprecedented levels as they reached about 500 million euros.

Energy prices more than double

It is worth noting that in the first nine months of the year, total expenditures for the purchase of liquid fuels, natural gas, CO2 emission rights and energy amounted to 2.1 from 1.6 billion. euros last year.

In detail, the cost for:

– Liquid fuels in the first nine months of 2021 increased by 14.7% to 410.2 million euros compared to the first nine months of 2020, due to the increase in the prices of fuel oil (by 8.9%) and diesel (by 8.4 %) but also of increased production from liquid fuels. In particular, in the third quarter of this year, the expenditure on liquid fuels increased by 39.4%, as a result of the even greater increase in the respective prices and the relative production.

– Natural gas increased significantly by 119.8% to 452.7 million compared to 206 million euros, primarily due to the increase in the price of natural gas by 56.1% and secondly due to the increased production of electricity by 38.2%. During the third quarter of this year, the expenditure on natural gas more than doubled, reaching 234.4 million from 93.7 million Euros in the corresponding quarter last year, for the same reasons.

– Expenditure on energy markets decreased by 113.6 million euros (-13.4%) due to the smaller volume of energy markets despite the increase of the Purchase Price (TEA) from 42.5 euros / MWh in the first nine months of 2020 at 81.3 euros / MWh in the first nine months of this year. More specifically, in the third quarter, expenditure on energy markets increased significantly by 77.3 million Euros (29.9%), as TEA increased from 44.6 euros / MWh in the third quarter of 2020 to 119.3 euros / MWh in this year’s quarter.

– Expenditure on CO2 emissions increased to 539.4 million in the first nine months of 2021 from 263.1 million euros in the first nine months of last year, mainly due to the increase in the average price of CO2 emissions from 24.3 euros / tonne to 44.3 euro / tonne and to a lesser extent due to the increase of CO2 quantities by 12.1% to 12.2 million tons. Especially in the third quarter of 2021, spending on CO2 emissions increased by 163.9% to 242.5 million from 91.9 million euros in the third quarter of 2020.

The System Limit Price clause

However, in the results of the nine months of PPC, the revenues from the increase of the kilowatt hour prices with the activation of the System Limit Price clause have not been recorded.

The public company spends these consumption charges towards the last quarter of the year. Revenues that will be reflected in its financial results and are expected to lead it to the target of recurring EBITDA for 850 million euros.