THE ELECTRICITY Authority of Cyprus (EAC) regrets to inform you…that the state is to blame for your high electricity bill…due to the delayed arrival of natural gas.
That’s the gist of a leaflet, which the EAC is attaching to the latest batch of bills sent to consumers. Titled “Do you think that the price of electricity is high?” The leaflet is printed in both Greek and English versions.
In it, the EAC defends its pricing policy by citing “objective difficulties” that are beyond its control, such as the lack of economies of scale, a power supply system that is not linked to other countries and a limited choice of fuel.
“For these reasons, any comparison between the price of electricity in Cyprus – where electric power is generated burning petroleum by-products – and that of other European Union member countries is meaningless and unfair,” it notes.
The EAC, a semi-governmental organisation, then takes the unusual step of pointing the finger at the state: “For reasons not the fault of EAC, but of the state, the implementation of the schedule regarding the arrival of Natural Gas has not yet been achieved.
“As a result, EAC which did maintain the agreed schedule has invested hundreds of millions of euros and has been ready since 2008 to use Natural Gas for electric power generation,” the newsletter notes.
Eurostat data published in January showed that in 2010 Cypriot medium size households had the highest electricity bills among the EU-27 countries. Cypriots paid €0.1597 per kWh (kilowatt hours), compared to the EU-27 year average of €0.1223 per kWh.
Stelios Stylianou, the EAC’s general manager, said they issued the newsletter to “protect ourselves from widespread criticism about our prices, which is unfair criticism. The cost of importing fuel accounts for about 70 per cent of our expenditures.
“We wanted to let consumers know why prices are the way they are,” he added.
And while the EAC has kept its side of the bargain, the state has not, Stylianou said.
“Back in 2001, the state told us to install dual-fire turbines that would able to burn natural gas – and we did. We were told that by 2007 or 2008 at the latest we would get the natural gas, but it didn’t happen.”
Stylianou moreover said that for the last ten years, EAC repeatedly asked to be allowed to import natural gas for its own use, a request that was refused by the State.
“We were told that this is a state issue since the natural gas would be bought for the entire island, not just for the EAC. That is why they set up DEFA (Natural Gas Public Company).”
And he went on to claim that both the EAC and DEFA are completely in the dark about the present administration’s intentions vis a vis natural gas.
The government currently has at least three options before it: it is considering a 20-year natural gas supply contract with Shell; then there are the suspected natural gas reserves in its offshore territory; and lastly it is mulling a proposal by Israel’s Delek Group to supply natural gas to the island.
