A bill on small photovoltaic owners using the electricity they produce, forbidding switching off energy from renewable sources if that reaching the grid needs to be reduced, is being sent to Thursday’s House plenum.

The plenum will also be called on to vote on a harmonisation bill for the storage of energy in electricity authority (EAC) substations, managed by the Transmission System Operator.

The bills were discussed on Tuesday at the House energy committee, loose ends were tied up and the political parties said they would express views at the plenum.

Speaking after the meeting, chairman of the committee Kyriakos Hadjiyiannis said the road to renewable energy could not be cut off due to inaction on behalf of the state “because there is a dark network to promote the sale of electricity produced using mazut”.

Hadjiyiannis said the right of the people to produce their own electricity to cover their needs should be safeguarded.

“We will not stop the course towards renewable energy. We demand, we want to secure the right of every citizen of this country to produce their own electricity and cover their own needs,” he added.

Commenting on photovoltaic production being cut off from the grid, Hadjiyiannis said the Energy Regulatory Authority had called for a plan for the grid to absorb energy from renewable sources by at least 10 to 30 per cent of produced energy, however nothing had been presented.

“This should be the focus of a law and not technology and the negligence of the government,” he added.

The committee also discussed the protection of consumers from dangerous products, as well as increasing administrative fines for breaking the law.

Hadjiyiannis referred to the faulty Takata airbag recalls, saying some officials had disappeared during the talks and the road transport department had been left to deal with it.

He also said that regarding food and toys, the consumer protection service had refused to participate in the committee’s meetings.

“Who is responsible to supervise the safety of products? The consumer protection service. They refused to come to our meetings in case they were left exposed,” he said.

“This is the rule of law and the mature state we have,” he added.

Hadjiyiannis said proposals were being promoted to change the law, providing for higher fines and obliging the supervisory authority to be held accountable.

Once the existing law was abolished, provisions included in the bill would be incorporated into the legislation that would then go to the plenum.

He expected that the bill harmonising the law with EU regulations would be discussed after the Easter holidays, securing product safety and market supervision.