The Turkish-occupied north was left in the dark on Monday after suffering a general blackout, with Turkish Cypriot authorities screaming foul play, blaming workers at the electricity authority.
As reported by news outlet YeniDuzen, many areas in the north still needed to see power restored by noon on Tuesday.
The north could not request electricity from the Republic of Cyprus, as the interconnection system also presented problems.
Quoted by YeniDuzen, the head of the Turkish Cypriot electricity authority KIB-TEK, Huseyin Pasha hinted at sabotage, pointing the finger at the union EL-SEN representing its employees.
Pasha claimed the outages were “probably due to external interventions”, reminding the union had taken industrial action over privatising the utility.
EL-SEN has been campaigning against an amendment to the public procurement law, which the union claims will open the door to privatising the north’s electricity authority by the Turkish company AKSA.
The amendment has been dubbed by Turkish Cypriot unions and the opposition as the ‘AKSA law’.
AKSA’s Cyprus power station has provided the authority with almost half of the 300 MW needed daily since 2003.
EL-SEN argues that should AKSA take over; electricity bills will increase three-fold.
Just hours before the blackout, the union had held a demonstration outside the assembly in northern Nicosia while the bill was being discussed.
The protest was supported by public sector unions KTAMS and KAMU-IS.
The union had also called for strike action, which was banned by the ruling coalition.
EL-SEN has claimed that the outage was due to the lack of investment in infrastructure and maintenance.
Meanwhile, the ruling coalition in the north said it would not back down and push through privatisation.
In comments to Turkish Cypriot media on Tuesday, the head of the coalition Unal Ustel admitted that there was a lack of investment in the sector, adding that is why authorities were forced to turn to AKSA.
Ustel said: “Let them protest, but if there is evidence of sabotage, then they will have to answer to the government”.
