CYPRIOTS SEEING LOWEST ELECTRICITY BILLS IN YEARS

 Cyprus Mail 13 August 2020 - by Nick Theodoulou

Cypriots are set to enjoy the lowest electricity bills in almost 20 years, as the price of oil has tanked and the electricity authority is further knocking 10 per cent off the bill.

A household of four people, using 800 kilowatts – which is a considerable amount for such a unit – will come to €126 this August.

Just two months ago, in June, the bill would have been €150.

“If we compare a bill in August 2020 to August 2019 there will be a reduction of 26 per cent,” Electricity Authority Cyprus spokesperson, Christina Papadopoulou, told the Cyprus Mail on Thursday.

“So instead of this months’ bill being €126 it would have been €170 last year,” she said.

Compared to two years ago the reduced price is 26 per cent and to three years ago it is 16 per cent less.

“The reasons for this is due to the oil being purchased at very low prices during and because of the pandemic – from the beginning of March onwards,” Papadopoulou said.

“We also took advantage of all the storage facilities available to us and filled it with the oil which was purchased at lower prices.”

She further pointed to the 10 per cent relief granted by the EAC, to help out households dealing with the pandemic, which comes at a cost of €30 million for the authority.

As to why bills were not reduced earlier, she explained that previous stores of oil that were bought at higher prices before the pandemic were still in use.

But the lower bills come at a good time for consumers, she said, especially now during the hotter months and many people are using air-conditioning which is very expensive.

Asked how long the cheaper bills may be around, she said that: “It’s very hard to say for certain because it depends on energy demand and other factors, but generally if the price of oil remains low then so will the price of a kilowatt.”