Property owners cut power supply

By Thanos Tsiros

More than 1.3 million properties across Greece have been left without power upon their owners’ demand in recent years, cross-checking by the General Secretariat of Public Revenue and the Hellenic Electricity Distribution Network Operator (DEDDIE) has shown.

Given that the number of active users of the power network stood at 7,385,000 at the end of 2013, it appears that a very high number of property owners, possibly up to 18 percent, have at least one property where the power connection has been cut in their name.

The reasons for having a property’s power supply cut are as would be expected: not having to pay local authority levies, the exemption of those properties from the used property assets that tax authorities take into account when determining each taxpayer’s income status, and not having to pay the various charges tagged onto electricity bills, such as the fixed payment to the power company, the levy for the state broadcaster etc.

However the main reason for property owners’ decision to have their supply cut has been the property levy tagged onto electricity bills from 2011 to 2013.