The island’s new government appears unwilling to tax renewable energy source (RES) producers found to have earned windfall profits as a result of the high tariffs paid to them.
These producers sell the energy they produce at prices much higher than the cost of production, taking advantage of the high cost of the Electricity Authority of Cyprus.
As well as the reluctance of the previous government to conduct competitive tenders to ensure green electricity at the lowest possible price, Philenews reports.
Talking to Active Radio on Monday, Energy Ministry George Papanastasiou who took over in March following February’s presidential elections, he expressed concern over such a possible special taxation.
He clarified that the issue of taxation is the responsibility of the Ministry of Finance but he also appeared not to fully share the concept of excess profits in relation to the profit rate of companies that exploit RES.
He also said that there are many other things that can be done to reduce the cost of electricity generation instead of taxing these profits.
In fact, Papanastasiou said he puts the word excess profits in quotation marks.
Papanastasiou’s statements can be interpreted as a sign the the Nikos Christodoulides administration is not oriented towards filing such a bill soon. Even though the Energy Minister did not want to commit the Ministry of Finance.
