Greek unionists and protesters renewed on Monday a nationwide anti-austerity campaign to obstruct the disconnection of electricity to recession-hit households due to unpaid bills during heavy winter.

According to the state-run Greek Public Power Corporation (DEI), there are some 250,000 bills unpaid for over 80 days.

Quite a few of them concern low-income households struggling to make ends meet at a time of record-high unemployment, cutbacks on salaries and tax hikes promoted by the government to address an acute debt crisis that has threatened the country with a default since 2010.

Last fall, DEI unionists and activists from left parties blockaded DEI buildings, disrupting the issuance of electricity bills that included a new emergency property tax introduced to fill fiscal holes so that Greece can secure vital further financial support from international creditors to avert bankruptcy.

As DEI resumed disconnections on Monday, groups of protesters hit the streets of Athens and other cities again to stop households from being cut off.

They argued that some exemptions made by officials on humanitarian terms were not enough, as Greece was gripped by a cold front recently with very low temperatures and snowfall in many parts of the country.

Under the May 2010 agreement the European Union (EU)/International Monetary Fund (IMF) lenders reached with debt-laden Greece to provide multi-billion-euro rescue loans in exchange for austerity and reform measures, DEI is obliged to put its finances in order swiftly.

From Jan. 1, electricity prices were raised by an average of 9.2 percent, making the burden of recession-hurt Greeks efforts even greater.

As EU/IMF auditors and representatives of private banks are due to meet in Athens over the next 48 hours for a new round of negotiations on the release of a second bailout package to Greece in time to escape a default in March, labor unions will stage a new 24-hour strike and rally in central Athens on Tuesday to protest painful austerity.