Filenews 8 June 2025 - by Chrysanthos Manoli
Those citizens who were encouraged by the news that, even in the last moment, CERA and other electricity sector officials have mobilized for the creation of a cold reserve of electricity from private generators, in order to avoid power outages in the summer, should keep a small basket.
The information of the Liberal Party states that CERA holds a legal opinion of its advisor, as well as positions – warnings from interested parties in the state machine and the private sector, which raise the issue of incompatible state aid in case the regulatory authority proceeds to sign contracts with private companies to buy electricity from their generators, in case of emergency!
Although it is clear that it is a matter of serving the public interest and the safety of the electricity system, as all the forecasts and estimates of CERA, the Transmission System Operator and the EAC confirm the serious risk of insufficient electricity in some periods of high electricity demand in the summer, especially if there are serious failures in production plants, the possibility of the issue of state aid and punishment of Cyprus by the European Commission is of great concern to CERA.
To the extent that it is not able, as we are informed, to follow up on the exploitation of private generators, if it does not have an official position in its hands, by the Commissioner of State Aid or the European Commission itself on the legality of this procedure.
On the other hand, the investigation of the compatibility of the emergency mobilization of private generators with EU legislation is obviously going to require time, which neither CERA, nor the Government, nor the EAC and the Transmission Operator have, whether they publicly acknowledge it or not. Already the rise in temperature - which will continue in the coming days - has led to an increase in electricity consumption and those responsible are sitting on lit coals.
Information from the Liberal Party confirms information that we had recently published, according to which the Transmission Operator has warned that in the event of a failure in a large unit in July and early August, there may be a gap of around 30 to 40 megawatts, between the maximum demand and the maximum power generation capacity. In the remaining days, demand coverage is expected to be achieved marginally, but without reserve for security of supply.
On the part of EAC, the initial investigation of the possibility of utilizing relatively large generators in hotels, airports, malls, department stores, factories has been completed and owners' consents have been obtained for a few dozen generators (one and one and a half megawatts of power) with a total capacity of close to 60 megawatts.
A draft contract has also been prepared for the commitment of the two parties and the compensation of the entrepreneurs, but everything seems to have been frozen, until it is clear how the risk of the payment of some individuals for the production of electricity for the needs of the EAC network will be managed illegally.
To the question on what basis is the opinion on the existence of incompatible state aid, we got the answer that it is possible for some entrepreneurs to raise the issue of unequal treatment, due to the financial support by the state, of their competitors, through the purchase of electricity by them!
In addition, there is an obligation on the Cypriot authorities to bid for additional energy, something for which there is also no time, not even a prospect of success.
Developments are expected in the next few days. The final decision belongs to CERA, the competent authority for determining whether or not electricity is adequate.
There is no other alternative option for increasing the available electricity production this summer. The concern that exists mainly concerns the afternoons and evenings of summer, when production from photovoltaics stops but demand from consumers increases, at least until 9 or 10 p.m.
