The Audit Service levels harsh criticism at the energy regulator CERA and at former boards of the Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC) in a special report published on Thursday. Auditor General Andreas Papaconstantinou documents how the overwhelming majority of renewable energy capacity ended up in private hands, allowing companies to reap enormous profits — without consumers ever seeing any benefit.
The numbers are revealing: just 20 megawatts of photovoltaics are under EAC control, while approximately 420 megawatts are exploited by private companies — five major players dominating the sector.
Between 2020 and 2024, as commercial solar installation skyrocketed, consumers not only saw no rate reductions but were burdened with emission rights costs approaching one billion euros. Globally, solar generation costs dropped by 90% between 2010 and 2024, yet in Cyprus this was never translated into savings for end consumers.
The Audit Service places primary responsibility on CERA, which between 2019 and 2022 demanded that EAC halt its own renewable energy development. This delay gave private companies a head start in securing licences and land, both now saturated. Some licence holders who never built their projects are now demanding millions to transfer those licences to EAC.
The Auditor General states plainly: “Opening the electricity market and competition are not an end in themselves. They exist to protect consumers.” He calls for the cancellation of unrealised licences and their transfer to EAC or other interested parties.
Notably, during 2022–2024, over 384,000 consumer calls to EAC’s call centre went unanswered, while unbilled electricity supplied to the occupied territories has cumulatively reached €276 million.
