The President of the Republic Mr. Nicos Anastasiades chaired a meeting with representatives of RAEK and AEK at the Presidential Palace today, where the problems arising to businesses and households, and especially vulnerable groups of the population, from the electricity price increases were discussed. In this context, issues concerning the electricity distribution system and the further penetration of Renewable Energy Sources in electricity production were also discussed.
The meeting was attended by the Minister of Finance, Mr. During the meeting, the strategy followed with the cooperation of the parties involved was discussed in detail, which will contribute to the Government's efforts to implement sustainable solutions that will address the ongoing pressures caused by the new global economic crisis on electricity prices.
It was also stressed that a key pillar of the strategy is to accelerate Cyprus' decoupling from conventional fuels in conjunction with the short-term measures that have been implemented and the Sponsorship Plans that have been granted or are currently open to the public or are planned to be announced in the near future.
As a result of the meeting, the following decisions were taken.
2) It was agreed to strengthen the staffing of AHK in order to proceed with the process of upgrading the Agency's network.
3) As part of the green transition policies promoted by the Government, an 80 million euro allocation from European funds will be used for investments in large-scale energy storage systems.
The above three measures will allow a faster penetration of RES in the energy mix of Cyprus and therefore there will be environmental and economic benefits.
4) The Ministries of Energy, Finance and RAEK will study the possibility of imposing a tax or fee on any excess profits of Renewable Energy producers.
5) New measures that could be implemented after the current measures expire on 31 August will be evaluated, including the possible granting of vouchers to economically vulnerable households to address energy poverty, also in line with the European Union's toolkit which gave guidance to Member States to relieve consumers from fuel price increases.
6) Regarding the increase in the share of RES generated by AEC, a plan will be drawn up by the electricity transmission and distribution operators and submitted to RAEK for approval. The aim is to create a sustainable plan for AHK's participation in RES.
7) Conducting a campaign to educate and inform the public about the options and ways to save energy.
It should be noted that the budget for the year 2022 for energy installation and energy upgrading of households and businesses amounts to EUR 100 million. Also still in force until 31 August is the imposition of reduced VAT on electricity at a rate of 5% for vulnerable households and 9% for other domestic consumers.
(PM/EC/SX)
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