The Public Power Corp. (PPC) on Tuesday reported net losses totaling 1.4 million euros in the first quarter of 2012, despite a 17.4 pct increase in revenue from electricity power sales -for the first time in three years- as household consumers turned to air conditioning systems during the winter months avoiding the high cost of heating oil. However, increased revenue was counterbalanced by higher cost of fuel and natural gas during the same period.

Payroll spending fell by 17.4 pct in the January-March period. Turnover totaled 1.54 billion euros, up from 1.37 billion euros last year, while PPC's debt rose slightly to 4.85 billion euros, from 4.7 billion euros in 2011. Public Power Corp. said its bad debt provisions jumped 118 pct to 54.1 million euros.amna

Arthuros Zervos, chairman and chief executive of PPC, commenting on the results said he expected this year's results to move according to budget provisions on the precondition that a macroeconomic environment will not deteriorate further.