Electricity 7th most expensive

Cypriots are paying among the highest electricity bills as Cyprus ranks seventh for energy costs in the European Union.

According to Euronews, Cyprus is among the ten most expensive countries for electricity in terms of electricity prices for July.

Last month’s electricity price in Cyprus was EUR 38.33 per kilowatt per hour, including VAT.

This puts Cyprus behind the Czech Republic (EUR 52.15 per kWh), the UK (EUR 51.85 per kWh), Italy (EUR 46.85 per kWh), Estonia (EUR 40.82 per kWh), Denmark (EUR 39.95 per kWh), and Latvia (EUR 39.46 per kWh).

But the Netherlands (EUR 36.32 per kWh), Belgium (EUR 36.13 per kWh) and Germany (EUR 35.93 per kWh) had cheaper electricity than Cyprus.

Norway had the cheapest electricity with EUR 12.83 per kWh.

Euronews reported that the UK is set to see a sharp 80% increase in the average energy price, with Britons expecting to pay around EUR 4,182 a year for heating and electricity.

Meanwhile, the EU is mulling over introducing a price cap on electricity. The Czech presidency called for an emergency meeting of the bloc’s energy ministers to consider measures for dealing with the energy crisis.

The move comes as soaring energy prices across the union threaten to push the bloc into a recession with unforeseeable consequences.

An increasing number of European governments have realised that subsidies and electricity conservation schemes are not enough to put out the fire of galloping prices.

In Cyprus, VAT on electricity is being brought back to 19% at the end of August, after being reduced to 9% ten months ago for all consumers and 5% for low-income households.