A COMPANY in Larnaca was the latest business to have its electricity cut off by the Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC) yesterday.
This disconnection follows on from the cuts made last week to customers whose meters were illegally tampered with last year.
EAC Spokesman Costas Gavrielides told the Cyprus Mail yesterday, “We had plans to disconnect various clients. We have disconnected an industrial unit in Larnaca but some of the other customers came to negotiate at the last minute so we haven’t cut them off yet.
“We are currently negotiating with a customer in Nicosia and also a company in Limassol which has agreed to pay us. There were two more disconnections planned, including a restaurant in Limassol, but we will have to wait and see what the outcome of negotiations is.”
Asked whether the EAC was pleased with the progress of its campaign to get back the money owed it by customers, he said
“It seems that our strategy is paying off. Most of those customers scheduled for disconnection have either agreed to pay or are negotiating. So we’re optimistic.”
Gavrielides also said the amounts owed by certain customers would not be demanded in a lump sum.
“In some cases the amounts involved are so huge that we have agreed a rate of payment which means the customer will not have to pay off their debt all at once.”
He warned that all customers would be treated equally and that large companies would not escape payments.
“All these businesses will be treated in the same way, no matter how powerful they are. We will strive to get all our money back.”
The case has been under investigation by the EAC for more than a year now, and a total of £2.8 million is owed to the authority.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
