Electrical Crisis in Southern Cyprus: Hike discussions and political interventions attract reaction – Cyprus Newspaper

The debates on electricity invoices in Southern Cyprus led to public reactions. Greek Minister of Energy, George Papastasiou, stated that it was not “possible” to raise 9.5 percent of electricity bills, while describing such allegations as “unreal” and “mass market fiction”.

The complexity of authority and different statements between the Greek Cypriot Electricity Institution (EAC) and the Energy Regulatory Authority (Cera) caused a crisis of confidence in the Greek public opinion. Minister Papastasiou said that the increase in electricity prices will remain at a level of 3 percent, while the President of EAC George Petrou said that a few days ago would be proposed to increase by 3 percent.

However, Petrou announced that Cera was requested an increase of 7.5 percent before, and the Greek Cypriot President Nikos Hristodulidis appeared to have a harsh warning against this request. This was interpreted as the direct intervention of politics in energy policies. In fact, Kyriakos Hadjiyannis, the President of the Parliamentary Energy Committee, described the intervention of Hristodulidis as “a great political mistake” and “illegal”.

Consumer associations react harshly to the increase plans. Cyprus Consumers Association and PancyPrian Consumers Association, electricity prices are already very high and any increase is unacceptable, he said. The presidents of the association accused EAC of “producing excuses” and “loading on the consumer”.

This uncertainty and institutional conflicts in energy prices revealed that the Greek Cypriot side was damaged by political interventions and that the consumer’s interests were pushed to the second plan.