ATHENS – Even limited state assistance to help households deal with electric bills that have nearly doubled hasn’t enough to help many cope and now Greece’s high court will take on the cases of suits against the state-run utility.

The Supreme Court will resolve a matter that concerns hundreds of thousands of citizens by holding a test trial concerning the so-called “adjustment clause” in power supply contracts, said Kathimerini.

The plenary of the Supreme Court has already scheduled the trial run in line with the recent regulation allowing it to hear cases that can be used as precedent for others so that the judicial system isn’t overwhelmed and bogged down.

A pilot case will be heard first by a special committee on June 14, before reaching the plenary, following a demand from the Public Power Corporation, which led to a case against the adjusment clause from consumer groups being postponed.

The groups’ lawyers asked PPC to pledge it will not cut off supply to any consumers who can’t pay until the Supreme Court reaches a verdict but the utility refused and the court didn’t issue an injunction, the paper said.

As a result, no such case will be heard until the Supreme Court has reached a verdict on the matter, and citizens no longer have reason to file new cases, the report added, as they woudn’t be heard.