THE Nicosia District Court has issued the Electricity Authority (EAC) with an interim order barring the utility from cutting power to a customer who refuses to pay a £90,000 bill.
The EAC has charged plaintiff Andreas Diavastos £90,000 in owed electricity money, claiming he metres at his outlets had been tampered in order to show less consumption.
He is one of dozens of individuals and businesses suspected of having their meters tampered. The case emerged last year when a former EAC employee, Michalis Masouras, was jailed for defrauding the EAC, after it was proved he had tampered with 119 electricity meters.
Last week, the EAC began cutting electricity to customers refusing to pay outstanding amounts, estimated against previous consumption.
Diavastos went to court to prevent the EAC cutting him off, and the interim order was issued after a request from his lawyer, Savvas Angelides. Angelides told the court that cutting the power at Diavastos’ restaurants would ruin him.
Angelides claimed the EAC’s intention to cut the power to his client’s restaurants were illegal because the authority had not proved that the metres had been tampered with.
The court ruled the EAC should not cut Diavastos’ power until the case had been fully investigated.
EAC Spokesman Costas Gabrielides yesterday insisted it was the company’s legal right to cut power to customers who didn’t pay their bills.
“In this particular case, the court issued an interim order which stops us from cutting the power in that man’s restaurant until investigations into the case are concluded,” he said.
“The court just said, there is no need to rush into things since the man could be ruined from the loss of electricity.
“However, it is our legal right to cut the power whenever a customer does not pay the bill,” he added.
Gabrielides said the company had estimated the amount owed by Diavastos by comparing the amount of power he used the year before the case was brought to court.
The Authority says it is still owed a total of £2.8 million in illegally used electricity.
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