With new “leaders” and unprovoked attacks on the media, the leader of Immediate Democracy and Member of the European Parliament, Fidias Panayiotou, continues his admittedly original, daily social media challenge aimed at convincing President of the Republic Nikos Christodoulides to lower the prices of energy produced from renewable sources, within the framework of the Competitive Electricity Market—a move that, according to him, would result in a 20% reduction in electricity bills.
What the 26-year-old politician clearly overlooks, however, is the fact that the Cyprus Energy Regulatory Authority—and not the President of the Republic—holds the sole authority and power to set electricity prices. Therefore, Pheidias seems to be “knocking on the wrong door,” while the reactions of those involved raise significant questions about whether his claims can be substantiated by facts, numbers, and data.
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
What Pheidias Claims
In his series of daily videos, Mr. Panagiotou claims that commercial solar farms generate electricity at a cost of 5–7 cents/kWh, sell it to SAIC at 25–30 cents/kWh, and that an intervention by the President regarding this price would immediately reduce every household’s electricity bill by 20%. He calls it a scandal and speaks of vested interests that are making billions of euros at the expense of the average consumer.
The Size of the Market
The data, however, show that the entire Cypriot electricity market—in terms of what was purchased and paid for during the reporting period—totaled 4,112.2 GWh:
The data show that it is mathematically impossible for a measure applied to just 6.4% of the market to reduce the total by 20%, no matter how strict the limit itself may be. The “challenge,” therefore, does not hold up to even a basic numerical check.
Analysis of the data
See the report by Eleni Michael:
