The Minister of Energy, Trade and Industry Natasha Pilidou informed on Tuesday, the Parliamentary Committee on Energy, Trade, Industry and Tourism regarding the progress made on the opening of the electricity market.
During the session, which started at 9.00 a.m. Pileidou made a presentation, through slides, of the developments in the electricity market.
In statements after the session, the President of the Committee, DISY MP Kyriakos Hatzigiannis said that the milestone of the market opening is the autumn, that the October target remains irrevocable and added that "the opening of the market and the functioning of competition are supreme principles and should be safeguarded".
"All obstacles put up at any stage and in any form are reprehensible. We believe that only through market opening will the objectives of the green transition and the generation of electricity from renewable energy sources be achieved," he added.
Hatzigiannis urged everyone to let the independent institutions and the supervisory authority, the RAEC, to operate unhindered based on the terms of reference stemming from the laws and assured that the Trade Commission is ready to address "any need immediately in relation to legal institutionalisation".
Noting that the Committee has called for relevant regulations to be immediately tabled in Parliament, Hatzigianni said he positively appreciates all the work that has been achieved in recent times by both the Minister of Energy and the RAEC and the Transmission and Distribution System Operator.
In addition, AKEL MP Kostas Kostas said that today's session "confirmed everything we have been shouting for so long about the sloppiness and lack of coordination on the part of the Government and the unjustified delay in the submission of bills that would lead to the independence and staffing of the Transmission System Operator".
He said that "the Operator himself told the Commission today that the delay in completing the procedures for the independence and staffing of the TSO creates very serious problems".
He further said that the TSO has also indicated within the Commission that "the very difficult conditions prevailing in the global energy field are not suitable for launching a market and suggests the possibility of postponing the date of commencement of commercial operation of the competitive electricity market in order to gain the necessary experience from the market operator and allow time to complete the procedures for the independence of the Operator."
According to Mr. Costas, the Operator also indicated that "any necessary arrangements will also be able to be made to prevent beyond doubt the possibility of a spike in the price of electricity at the start of commercial operation of the market."
Mr. Kostas said that AKEL had stated several times in recent years that the government bears heavy responsibility for this situation and expressed the hope that "the opening of AHH will take place with AHK strengthened as a public institution and for the benefit of citizens by reducing and not further increasing the price of electricity."
"Unfortunately, once again we have been confirmed" and "once again the incompetence of the government has been confirmed," he concluded.
Source: CNA
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