Filenews 1 January 2026 - by Charalambos Zakos
The "photovoltaics for all" plan was completed and expired after years, with the entry of 2026. Thousands of consumers, citizens and small traders, applied for and joined the plan that ended on 31/12/2025. However, the subsidies from the state do not end here.
According to the latest information obtained by "F", within the first days of January the Ministry of Energy intends to announce a new plan, but with two differences compared to the "Photovoltaics for All" Plan, which has been re-announced in recent years with some minor changes.
In particular, the new plan will bring with it two main changes. The first concerns the method of offsetting. Until December 31, 2025, applicants were included in net metering. That is, the charge on their bills was calculated based on the production they gave from their photovoltaic system to the grid and the consumption of kilowatt hours from pumping from the EAC network during the time they did not produce their photovoltaics. This method of offsetting is now abolished and any applications submitted from January 1, 2026 will be included in net billing.
In net billing, the method of calculation is different. Instead of production and consumption being offset in kilowatt hours, the calculation will be made at the price of each kilowatt hour. Therefore, the final bill that the consumer will receive will be calculated based on the price of the kilowatt hour he produced and gave to the grid at any given time, in relation to the price of the kilowatt hour at the time he was drawing energy from the EAC network.
The other big change concerns the beneficiaries. This time, in order to become a beneficiary of the plan, one must install in addition to photovoltaics (net billing) also storage. That is, batteries, where the energy produced will be stored.
Essentially, in order to get the grant, you will have to install and store, but we do not know so far what size batteries will have to be installed or other details about the amounts that will be allocated and the eligible costs. What we do know is that the grants will come from national resources.
Although so far no more has been known regarding all the provisions of the plan, these two changes seem to be the most important. Another key question is the amount of the subsidy, as the storage installation costs, perhaps as much as the photovoltaic system itself or close to its price. The international trend, however, allows for optimism that storage prices will gradually decrease.
Nicosia is the champion
According to the data collected by "F", citizens and small commercial consumers who installed photovoltaic systems exceed 88,000, with most of them located in the province of Nicosia, with a total of 34,711 systems.
It is followed by Limassol with 20,146 contracts, Larnaca with 15,418, Paphos with 10,275 and Famagusta with 4,812.
These contracts include all kinds of offsetting methods. From net metering to virtual net billing and the 08 pricing for vulnerable consumers, with the lion's share naturally occupying, as the most advantageous, net metering, with more than 81,000 citizens, out of a total of 88,000.
Energy communities
Net metering has been abolished in most - or all - EU countries and replaced with net billing, which is considered a fairer system, mainly for those consumers who do not have or cannot for technical reasons install rooftop photovoltaics.
Gradually, the institution of energy communities will be promoted in Cyprus, as is the case in the other member states of the Union, so that consumers who live in apartments or houses that cannot accommodate the photovoltaic infrastructure can benefit from cheap green electricity - in jointly owned photovoltaic parks.
