The Cabinet’s decision on Wednesday not to extend the scheme for subsidising electricity bills will most likely lead to a fresh wave of market price hikes soon enough.
This is what Philenews reports, adding that far fewer consumers will continue benefitting from the scheme as from Saturday.
And that due to the impact of electricity and fuel on the prices of other goods and services it is very likely the decision will lead to a new wave of market uncertainty in coming days.
As of Saturday, two measures supporting consumers against prolonged inflation that had been in place for the past 16 months comes to an end.
The Cabinet decided that prevailing data does not justify the continuation of the reduction in excise duty on fuel, while the electricity subsidy will only be provided to beneficiaries of the special 08 tariff.
Specifically, the electricity subsidy will be allocated only to vulnerable households and farmers using pump stations for their cultivation.
Vulnerable households include recipients of social security benefits, disabled persons, persons unable to work, large families, single parents, persons receiving disability and incapacity pensions and the unemployed.
In essence, these are the consumers covered by the Electricity Authority of Cyprus’ 08 tariff which some 34,000 consumers are eligible to. However, only 18,000 are normally included in the tariff, which offers a permanent reduction in electricity charges of about 20%.
Read more:
Reduced excise tax rate on energy to officially end on June 30 -Cabinet
