The Competitive Electricity Market was launched in Cyprus on 1 October, with the Minister of Energy, Commerce and Industry, George Papanastasiou, stating that competition should reduce the cost of electricity for the consumers.
“Today we first celebrate the 65th anniversary of the Republic of Cyprus, and at the same time we celebrate the launch of the Competitive Electricity Market,” said George Papanastasiou, on the sidelines of the military parade for the Independence Day of the Republic of Cyprus, also on 1 October.
As he said, the decision for the Competitive Electricity Market was taken in 2019. “The market should have opened at least two years later. Instead, today, 2025, we are opening the market, which provides that, once it operates with all the elements of a competitive market, consumers will have (the option for) different suppliers,” he added.
The Minister stated that through the Competitive Market “we want to see a cost-reflective production from Renewable Energy Sources, to see in the electricity mix a stronger and greater share of RES". That is, to push electricity costs in Cyprus downwards, through increased use of RES-based production, he added.
Asked to comment the fact that for the time being there seems to be no interest in supplying household consumers, the Minister said that a free electricity market presupposes that any consumers must be a target for suppliers. “If suppliers choose that their priority is only businesses, no intervention can be made. We would like to see suppliers give incentives to household consumers, so that their customer mix does not consist only of targeted large businesses, but also of many households, because only then will we see a truly free and competitive market,” he stressed.
George Papanastasiou emphasized the importance of competition. “There must be competition. At the moment there are 8–9 suppliers. All of them must compete with each other, they will buy electricity from various sources every half hour, like a stock exchange. They must buy smart, to sell smart, so that the cost of electricity for the final consumer receiving the product is reduced,” he underlined.
(Source: CNA)
