The Public Power Corporation crime

By Antonis Karakousis

There are certain public issues that reveal the quality of governance.

One such is the case of Greece's Public Power Corporation (PPC).

In the university public finance textbooks of the late Panteio University rector Sakis Karagiorgas there was a particular focus on the case of the Public Power Corporation (DEH), as it reflected the ability of the state to create and effectively operate a large public enterprise  for the public good.

Indeed, in the first post-war decades PPC operated as a model of an efficient and profitable enterprise. It built large electricity production plants, exploited domestic lignite deposits, built impressive hydroelectric plants, and created what was for that time a pioneering and trustworthy electric grid that managed to encompass even the most remote islands.

Equally importantly, it attracted exceptional engineers and technicians that could meet all its needs.

PPC also succeeded in offering its clients cheap electricity as compared to other countries. Until a few years ago, PPC's pricing contributed to the competitiveness of the Greek economy. Its results were based on specific principles and good management which was universally recognised.

The principles which Sakis Karagiorgas extolled were undermined along the way, mainly by governments which sought to exploit for political gain the largest enterprise in the Balkans.

The first problems with PPC's operation appeared during Pasok rule in the 1980's, when partisan-based trade unionism and the ruling party's control of the enterprise emerged.

The late conservative PM Constantine Mitsotakis had promised a cleanup of the company but at the end of his term in 1993 and under pressure he made it a base of patronage...