The need to take immediate action and implement a comprehensive energy plan, warning that Cyprus risks facing an electricity supply shortage after 2029, was highlighted by AKEL General Secretary Stefanos Stefanou, during a press conference held on Friday at the party’s Central Committee offices in Nicosia, focusing on energy security and electricity supply.

Also participating in the conference were the head of AKEL’s Energy Office, Vakis Charalambous; the head of the Sustainable Development Sector, Christina Nikolaou, and the party’s Member of Parliament Konstantinos Konstantinou, a member of the relevant parliamentary committee.

Mr. Stefanou noted that the end of 2029 is a critical milestone, as that is when the third and final exemption secured by the Republic of Cyprus from the European Union for the operation of older power plants expires.

As he noted, these include the Dekelia power plant and three of the six units at Vasilikos, with a total capacity of approximately 750 MW. Given that the country’s total contracted generating capacity amounts to approximately 1,250 MW, their decommissioning creates, according to him, a serious gap in power generation.

“The logical conclusion is that, if timely measures are not taken—and we are already behind schedule—we will be left without power,” he said, adding that such a scenario would have repercussions for the economy, society, critical services, and national security.

The AKEL Secretary-General maintained that the party had warned both the previous and current governments in a timely manner about the risks regarding energy sufficiency, during meetings held in 2022 and 2023.

At the same time, Mr. Stefanou spoke of long-standing weaknesses in energy planning, noting that Cyprus remains an isolated power system, without interconnections to other grids, while the necessary investments were not made in a timely manner.

“The fact that, on the one hand, we don’t have enough electricity and, on the other, we’re wasting generated energy illustrates in the most telling way the enormous mistakes that were made, the lack of a coherent energy plan, and the fact that things that should have been done were not done,” he said.

Referring to major energy projects, he described the natural gas terminal project in Vasilikos as “stalled,” noting that following the recent briefing of the Parliamentary Audit Committee, AKEL was “more concerned than reassured” about its progress.

He further argued that the party had expressed its objections to the project agreement as early as 2019, noting that these reservations had been voiced at the time the decisions were made, not after the fact.

Regarding the Cyprus–Greece power interconnection project, Mr. Stefanou stated that it is also at a “standstill,” referring to the delays and the investigations being conducted by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.

Regarding natural gas, he noted that its arrival is crucial for reducing the cost of electricity generation, clarifying, however, that its arrival does not mean it can be used immediately to generate electricity.

“It’s one thing to have the infrastructure and another to have secured the quantities of natural gas you need,” he said, adding that it will take at least a year to complete the necessary conversions and testing at the power plants.

He then presented his party’s proposals, Mr. Stefanou proposed the creation of an Energy Security and Sufficiency Council, with the participation of CERA, the Transmission System Operator, the EAC, DEFA, and ETYFA, with the aim of coordinating the relevant agencies and drawing up a costed plan for the period 2026–2031.

At the same time, it proposed accelerating projects such as the modernization of Dekelia, the development of energy storage infrastructure, the completion of the terminal at Vasilikos, and the strengthening of energy-saving policies.

To reduce electricity costs, he reiterated AKEL’s position in favor of a permanent reduction of the VAT rate to 5%, expanding the EAC’s social rate plans, and creating a special fund to utilize revenue from emissions allowances.

When asked whether the Ministry of Energy’s recent announcements regarding the implementation of the central battery storage plan reassure AKEL, the head of the party’s Energy Office, Vakis Charalambous, stated that the party supports the development of central storage, but clarified that “storage is a complementary tool. On its own, it cannot ensure energy sufficiency or replace conventional generation.” As he said, it can help balance the system and reduce blackouts, but “it is not the solution to the problem; it is a supplementary tool.”

When asked about the cost of emission allowances, Mr. Stefanou noted that, according to official data, consumers were burdened with approximately 1.3 billion euros during the period from 2018 through the first half of 2025. The head of the party’s Sustainable Development Sector, Christina Nikolaou, explained that the cost of purchasing emission allowances by the EAC is passed on to the price of electricity, while Mr. Charalambous estimated that the economy is burdened by approximately 1 million euros per day due to the increased cost of conventional power generation and the delay in the arrival of natural gas.

For his part, Mr. Stefanou argued that revenue from emissions allowances should be used to reduce energy costs and address energy poverty, noting that “governments have preferred to present these amounts as state revenue rather than using them for their intended purpose,” adding that “if the Auditor General needs to look into this, I believe he should do so.”

When asked whether there is room for a new extension from the European Union after 2029, Mr. Stefanou stated that the exemption secured by Cyprus expires definitively at the end of 2029. “We’ve known for years that it will definitively expire on December 31, 2029, and that Dekelia and half of Vasilikos will then have to be decommissioned. Nothing has been done,” he said, adding that the country must also prepare for the possibility that the European Union will not approve a new extension.