Minister of Energy, Commerce, and Industry, George Papanastasiou, expressed on Tuesday his hope that the Competitive Electricity Market, which opens on September 15, will push prices down. 

Papanastasiou was speaking before the Parliamentary Committee on Energy.

"This government and this Ministry have managed, after many years and a great deal of effort, to open this market and organise the system so that the CERA can decide to open it on September 15, with implementation on October 1,“ he stressed.

“I hope that the competitive market will push prices down because renewable energy producers will try to penetrate more into Cyprus' electricity mix and at the same time will try to attract domestic customers and not just large commercial, as suits the producer”, he stressed.

He added that he would wait to see how the market participants behave after October 1 before making an official statement.

In response to a question from Committee Chairman Kyriakos Hadjiyianni about setting a price cap in the first few months to prevent prices from skyrocketing, Papanastasiou said that this was a valid point and “something we have considered.”

He said, though, that his advice to everyone is “to wait and see how the markets behave and not get ready for price hikes,” adding that some measures that could be taken have been identified, but it is “more appropriate to see how the Competitive Electricity Market behaves.”

CNA/KST/KA/EPH/2025

ENDS, CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY