The much-discussed Greece-Cyprus electricity interconnection project is well on its way to finalising its outstanding issues, with the latest reports indicating that the Ministry of Environment and Energy is moving to submit an amendment to Parliament to distribute geopolitical risk equally to consumers in both countries, 50-50%.
The amendment was scheduled to be tabled in Parliament, as reported by competent sources, last night or this morning at the latest.
It should be recalled that the Greek side decided to act in this regard a few days ago, given that the regulation in question was amended at the request of the Cypriot side, replacing a previous regulation. with a proportion of 63% for Cypriot consumers as main beneficiaries and by 37% for Greek consumers.
Please note that the regulation concerns in the inevitable scenario that the project is blocked due to force majeure and without fault of the enforcement body (ADMIE) and therefore the latter can recover the costs it has paid so far. With the new regulation, as soon as it receives the relevant approval from the Greek Parliament, ADMIE will do this equally, 50%-50%, between consumers in both countries.
The bad scenario
The provision will provide that in the worst-case scenario, when things take a negative turn and the project is blocked, the Greek state will subsidize the additional burden on the Greek consumer’s bill. The other dimension of the government’s choice to bring the issue to Parliament is that it considers that its geopolitical importance requires its institutionalization by Parliament.
Government sources say Athens wants to send a message that it is not afraid of risk, which is why it is taking on an even greater share of the risk, but also that it has a very strong position on issues of international law.
With the conclusion of the specific pending issue and following the regulatory decisions taken on Monday in a joint teleconference between ERAEF and CERA, the project “file” tends to be closed and now, according to government sources, the necessary conditions are being formed for the project to proceed.
According to the new data, competent sources inform that ADMIE will be able to give the “Final Notice to Proceed” to Nexans in time so that the clause that foresees an additional charge of 1 million euros to the project for the time it remains on hold will not be activated and will not be executed.