Cyprus jolted by ‘state negligence’?

Residents of Cyprus will suffer this summer as a result of ‘State negligence’, argues one official...

That is the view of Lefteris Christoforou, Chairman of the Cyprus House Commerce Committee, whose comments came after The Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC) announced yesterday that there will be a 27 per cent increase in electricity bills over the summer.

EAC spokesman Costas Gavrielides explained: “The new rises are a result of increases in the international price of mazut, which has risen by 56 per cent. There could be further increases if problems arise at any of the EAC’s power stations – an issue faced last summer, which resulted in power cuts across the island.

“In the event of any faults, the extra stations will have to be used, which consume diesel at a much higher price. However, that they would only be used for short amounts of time until the faults are fixed.

Paying the price

Mr Christoforou expressed his disappointment at the steep increases: “Unfortunately, the Cypriot public is paying the price of state negligence and indifference, which have left the EAC dependent solely on oil.

He also pointed out that the EAC was not within its legal rights to make any further increases except those that were oil-related. Christoforou also insisted the state no longer had any legal right to receive dividends from the Authority’s reserves. “All this money should instead by used by the EAC to produce electricity at lower prices,” he said.

Christoforou announced that his committee had called for a new meeting with the EAC in order to discuss the issue and examine how the increase in oil prices is expected to impact on electricity.