Electricity bill hike to fund renewable energy

ELECTRICITY bills have increased as of yesterday, after parliament unanimously passed a law that will double the levy paid by consumers to fund renewable energy sources (RES).

The new increase follows the 1.9 per cent increase on electricity in March due to EU obligations. The specific levy will increase from 0.22 cents per KW to 0.44 cents per KW and translates into an average €22 annual increase on consumers’ bills, as explained by the Chairman of the House European Affairs Committee when the law was discussed.

The money will be submitted to the special RES fund and be used to promote RES, as part of Cyprus’ commitment to the EU to reduce carbon emissions and create RES until the year 2020.

According to the parliamentary report, promoting and using RES, as well as saving energy, are part of the EU’s top priorities, which issued a relevant Directive that is binding for all member states.

Cyprus has committed to have 13 per cent of its electricity produced with RES by 2020 and 10 per cent of its distribution consumption to come from RES.

To achieve this, incentives must be offered through the RES fund. However, during the law’s discussions, it emerged last month that less than 10 per cent of the €51 million gathered so far in the fund had been given in incentives, with dozens of businesses complaining that their applications had been turned down despite fulfilling the criteria.

State officials claimed the rest was used to pay off EU sanctions for carbon emissions and to sponsor energy-saving systems, such as solar projects.

The Committee concluded that the money hadn’t been squandered, just badly managed and the bill was submitted to the plenum yesterday where it was approved.

Voting in favour, opposition DISY’s Lefteris Christoforou said this proved his party was not opposed to all levy increases and would always support measures that would help the state’s economy and growth.