The Advent of Electricity Liberalization in Cyprus. Critical Analysis of the Current State and Charting a Path to Liberalization

Cyprus is an island situated in the Easter Mediterranean and member of the European Union. Cyprus maintains an effective monopoly in electrifying the island chiefly by entrusting the electrification to the Cyprus Electricity Authority, a semi-governmental organization. The Electricity Authority aggregates all key functions for generating and ultimately matching the load. The electricity is mainly produced by burning petrol, mazut, at the power plants. Cyprus has recently passed Laws to enable liberalization of its electric industry. In the body of this research paper, we will unveil the current state of the electricity industry in Cyprus by expanding on the electricity state owned company, the regulatory Authority and the new Laws enabling the liberalization pathway. Then we focus on key ingredients in liberalizing electricity industry. The key focus of this article will be to appraise the Cyprus new Laws, outlining the positive conditions and stress the persisting barriers and provide recommendations.