‘There is no way’ electricity bills will go up by 9.5% – Minister

Energy Minister George Papanastasiou on Wednesday said there is “no way” that consumer electricity bills will go up by 9.5 per cent.

Speaking after the day’s cabinet meeting, he described assertions that bills would rise by such an amount as “unrealistic” and “mass-market fiction”.

“There is no way that such a thing will happen. The ministry’s position is that the electricity authority [EAC], as a regulated entity, should submit to the Cyprus energy regulatory authority [Cera] its requests regarding the expenses it claims for the current year and for its development programme,” he said.

He added that the EAC’s board of directors has “reached a conclusion on some expenses”, with its submission to Cera expected imminently.

“This number is not going to exceed three per cent as a claim for bill increases,” he said.

“The numbers that we see circulating are mass-market fiction, inventive mistruths, I can say, and this is something which surprises us. We should not continue this discussion.”

He was then asked about Tuesday’s House energy committee meeting, where an increase of 9.5 per cent was mentioned as a possibility, and said that the figures available to the committee included EAC expenses from “other years”.

However, he said, when the EAC’s actual claim to Cera is submitted, those increases in expenses will be offset by things such as the pre-purchase of fuel at lower prices amid globally falling oil prices, and the pre-purchase of emission rights.

As such, he added, “any increase in the cost of electricity on consumers’ bills will be imperceptible”.

He also stressed that “no pressure was exerted by the government on anyone regarding the price of electricity” and that this matter is “left to the relationship between the regulator and the regulated party”.

“The EAC, as a public organisation, must take the pulse of the consumer, just as it must also take the opinion of the state. We want to have bills and electricity which are sustainable, but at the same time, we also want the EAC to be sustainable,” he said.

Earlier, EAC chairman George Petrou had said that a proposal for the price of electricity will be submitted to Cera within the next few days.

He said that “any decision of the EAC board must be forwarded to Cera, which will make a decision.” 

“Cera had made some announcement that an increase of 7.5 per cent was justified but we as the board of directors have not reached a conclusion,” Petrou said.

“We are studying it and within the next few days we will submit a relevant application to Cera.”

Last week, Petrou had said that the authority would propose a three per cent increase.

That plan came after the EAC had initially requested the 7.5 per cent from Cera. President Nikos Christodoulides then intervened to “sternly urge” the EAC to not follow through with such an increase.

Speaking to the CyBC at the time, Petrou said that “although an increase of 7.5 per cent was initially considered, the view ultimately prevailed for a milder adjustment to reduce the impact on households”.

The EAC typically files such requests roughly every two years, submitting its expenses for review, with Cera either agreeing or making amendments.

Meanwhile, the head of the Cyprus Consumers Association Marios Drousiotis told CNA on Wednesday that electricity prices are “already sky high” and any further increase was not justified”. 

“We do not accept it, ways must be found. We do not know what these ways are so that consumers are not asked to pay anything more, because they can no longer afford it,” he said.

“We as consumers are asking for zero increase, not to mention the reductions that were promised to us due to fuel oil at low prices,” he added.

President of the Pancyprian Consumers’ Union Loukas Aristodimou accused the EAC of “tricks and pretexts” to “reach into the consumer’s pocket”.

“They themselves must find ways to solve their problems, have rational management and not take more money from consumers,” he said. “Consumers need a bit of respite some respite.”

President Nikos Christodoulides had been accused at Tuesday’s committee meeting of making a “highly illegal” intervention on the matter, with committee chairman and Disy MP Kyriakos Hadjiyiannis describing Christodoulides’ actions as a “great political blunder”.

“The EAC told us that it requested an increase of 7.5 per cent plus value added tax, which comes out close to nine or 9.5 per cent. Cera said three or 3.5 per cent may be bearable. However, they had been told not to announce anything, not to send a letter,” he said.

He had added that consumers “cannot bear to pay for additional increases in the price of electricity”.

Meanwhile, Akel MP Costas Costa said that “consumers are paying both figuratively and literally for the longstanding incompetence, irresponsibility, carelessness and possible self-serving interests”.