Filenews 25 July 2025 - by Chrysanthos Manoli
IPTO, mainly through its chairman, Manos Manousakis, has been trying for days to convince the Greek public that CERA and the Cypriot Government refuse to undertake their obligations towards the electricity interconnection project, but at the moment the reality is different.
Already yesterday, some media in Greece wrote that CERA has handed over to its independent partner the data provided to it by IPTO for payments made for the project and the regulatory authority is waiting for the opinion of its partner for the verification of the data.
Fileleftheros is informed that CERA reiterated to Mr. Manousakis, during Wednesday's teleconference, its good mood for the completion of the procedure for the payment of the revenue to which he is entitled against approved expenses incurred.
It is confirmed that CERA has handed over to an audit firm with which it cooperates the evidence and invoices submitted to it by IPTO and is awaiting the audit by the auditor and the green light to apply the procedure for the payment of the implementing body.
This audit is expected to last a few days and it is possible that next week CERA will ask the Cyprus Transmission System Operator to initiate the procedure for charging electricity consumers' bills with a fee per kilowatt hour for the collection of the amount, which in the first phase is said to be around €13 million.
At the same time, the Ministry of Finance should disburse the corresponding amount, so that it can be credited to electricity consumers, as the decision of the Council of Ministers provides that the expenditure for 2025 and the following years until 2029 will be covered by the state treasury.
Who is delayed?
CERA has rejected during the last two teleconferences any responsibility for the delay in the payment of IPTO, as it insists that it is the implementing body that delays the submission of the receipts for the expenses it made in 2025.
Indicatively, it is mentioned that some of the basic invoices requested by CERA were submitted by IPTO only on Friday, July 18 and were immediately forwarded to the audit office for confirmation of payments.
Among executives of competent bodies on the issue of interconnection, there is great discomfort about the stance taken by IPTO, which they characterize as counterproductive or quarrelsome. As told to Fileleftheros, the Cypriot side has made it clear to Mr. Manousakis that it will receive his recoverable expenses on the basis of Regulatory Decision 300/2024 and the Framework of Understanding signed by the Ministers of Energy of Cyprus and Greece, provided that he will respond to the submission of the invoices on time.
It should be noted that the Greek regulatory authority (RAAEY) has not yet paid any amounts to IPTO for the Cyprus-Crete interconnection. It has taken the decision to start making payments, but according to reports in Greece, this will start in September.
What cannot be accepted by the Cypriot Government is the payment to IPTO of any amount over €25 million per year (until 2029), regardless of whether the implementing body will spend more during this period.
Mitsotakis and suitable conditions
The attempt of the Prime Minister of Greece, Konstantinos Mitsotakis, to reassure for the real promotion of the interconnection project did not yield the expected results, at least as far as Cypriot public opinion is concerned.
In an interview with the Sky TV station, Mr. Mitsotakis expressed the belief that the Greece-Cyprus cable will proceed in any case, but "when the geopolitical conditions are appropriate and when the final outstanding issues with Cyprus are closed." "I hope they will close soon," he commented.
Regarding the geopolitical extension of the interconnection, Mr. Mitsotakis noted that "in one way or another, the work will be done." Justifying his certainty, he argued that "the routing of a cable, in this case an energy cable, essentially does not require any special information and certainly does not require the approval of any coastal state".
According to him, "Turkey raises some questions, which in our opinion are completely unjustified" and pointed out that Turkey cannot ask for rapprochement with Europe and on the other hand block a European project.
