Electricity Authority of Cyprus
 |
|
| Public utility | |
| Industry | Electricity |
| Founded | 1952 |
| Headquarters | Nicosia, Cyprus |
|
Area served
|
Cyprus |
| Revenue | €776,334,000 (2014) |
| €59,652,000 (2014) | |
| €41,976,000 (2014) | |
|
Number of employees
|
2,137 (2014) |
| Website | Electricity Authority of Cyprus |
The Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC) (Greek: Αρχή Ηλεκτρισμού Κύπρου (ΑΗΚ)) was founded in 1952 by the British colonial government. The 28 private electricity companies of the time were nationalized and absorbed into the EAC. The Authority never received any subsidies from the government as these have always been prohibited by law. Its head office is located in Strovolos. The EAC currently holds a near monopoly on electricity generation in Cyprus. It operates through three power stations with a total capacity of 1460MW:
- Dhekelia Power Station - 460MW
- Moni Power Station - 140MW + 125MW in storage and set for disassembly
- Vasilikos Power Station - 860MW
The company also distributes electricity produced by five privately held windfarms:
- Orites - 82MW
- Santa Anna - 20MW
- Alexigros - 31.5MW
- Koshi - 10.8MW
- Aeolian - 10.8MW
Additionally, individuals and private companies own more than 50MW of solar panels and almost 10MW of biofuel installations and the EAC distributes the electricity these produce too.
In 2014, the EAC generated a total of 4,013GWh of electricity consuming 916,903 tonnes of fuel costing €446,975,000. Maximum demand in the areas controlled by the Republic of Cyprus reached 871MW, rising to 958MW in 2015. A total of 5.9GWh of the produced electricity in 2014 valued €1,001,000 ended up in the area occupied by Turkey and no money could be collected for it.
The Authority served 554,574 customers in 2014, that is 260 per employee, up from 254 in 2013. The electricity sales per employee reached 1.83GWh, up from 1.80GWh in 2013.
Company investments in 2014 on its assets reached €39,983,000.
On 11 July 2011, a total of 98 containers of munitions stored at Evangelos Florakis Naval Base adjacent to Vasilikos Power Station exploded causing extensive damage to the station. To cope with the extended loss of its largest power station, the Authority had to impose rolling blackouts. In 2010, the maximum demand had reached 1,144MW, the highest ever, and an even higher one was expected in 2011. During these tough times, the TRNC (The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus) offered help by generating and supplying the electricity Southern Part of Cyprus needed. There are rumors that Archbishop Chrysostomos II who happens to allegedly run his own parallel government through Church of Cyprus and is believed to be actually more powerful than the existing so called democratic government, encouraged the Greek Cypriot citizens to reject and not use the electricity coming from the TRNC. His behavior was considered Prejudice, Racist and lacking seriousness.
As a precondition to the accession of Cyprus to the European Union, the local market for electricity generation has been opened to private companies, but so far no private power plants have been built, although four licenses have been granted by Cyprus Energy Regulation Authority. In the meanwhile, the EAC diversified into communication and cable television services in cooperation with a private company.
In 2005, the company was involved in a high profile scandal involving the alleged theft of millions of Cyprus pounds from the employees' pension scheme.[1]
References
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