Household electricity bills soar

This August, Cypriots must dig deeper into their pockets to pay their electricity bills after rising fuel prices pushed annual costs up by almost 40% due to Cyprus’ dependency on oil to generate power.

Daily Phileleftheros, citing EAC data, reported that August electricity bills would be inflated by an average of 38.17% compared to the same month last year, reaching the pre-coronavirus price hike levels of 2018 and 2019.

The coronavirus outbreak had brought about a drop in fuel prices, as demand for power dwindled as the economy shut down with restrictive measures imposed.

The 38.17% increase is down to fuel prices calculated for August 2021 at €510.42 per metric tonne, while the price in August 2020 was €335.41.

When comparing prices to August 2019, there is an increase of 2.13% in bills, as the fuel price in August 2019 was €433.97 per metric tonne.

August 2021 bills, compared to those of August 2018, will cost household consumers an additional 4.46%; since then, the fuel price calculated by the EAC was €409.36 per metric tonne.

A ray of hope is that prices are dropping, as the price of mazut, the main fuel used by Cyprus’ Electricity Authority to produce energy, has dropped by 0.91% compared to July and up 0.35% from June.

If the downward trend continues, consumers could see their bills deflate in the coming months.

According to the calculations of the financial department of the EAC, the indicative bill of the average household consumer (800-kilowatt hours per quarter) calculated in August 2021 will be around €174, reduced by 0.91% from the indicative bill in July 2021