Electricity cuts at municipalities
TWENTY-three local authorities and pumps at their wells were left without electricity on Wednesday after bosses at the Cyprus Turkish Electricity Authority (Kıb-Tek) cut off their power supply over large unpaid bills.
Municipalities owe a total of 255 million TL to Kıb-Tek, according its board of directors chair Turan Büyükyılmaz. Only five councils were spared the power cuts.
Cyprus Turkish Municipalities’ Union and Güzelyurt Mayor Mahmut Özçınar said that the action taken by Kıb-Tek was a “farce”.
All indebted municipalities have applied for restructuring of their debts and an “amnesty” in accordance with a decree passed by the Council of Ministers, he said, but “despite this Kıb-Tek cut off the electricity to the municipalities’ water wells”.
Recalling that permits and authorisations for water wells were made with the “vigorous efforts of [Agriculture Minister] Nazım Çavuşoğlu and that the municipalities also pay the state for these wells”, Mr Özçınar said that leaving people “without water in this heat and demoralising the municipalities’
efforts will not benefit anyone”.
He continued: “We can’t get anywhere with this culture of conflict. Municipalities are this country’s institutions too. There are some [things] that we also want, but we aren’t fighting over them. . . if we are ruled by law then all practices must be in accordance with the law.”
Mr Özçınar said that while council leaders have “no issue with electricity being cut off to people and institutions that have accumulated electricity debts” the municipalities’ requests “should also be taken into account”.
The action against local government authorities came after Mr
Büyükyılmaz warned on Tuesday that Kıb-Tek had started to cut off the electricity to organisations that have racked up large amounts of unpaid bills. “There is no amnesty for debtors anymore,” he said. “KıbTek is an institution that came into existence from the Turkish Cypriot people’s resources.
“In order for this institution to survive, it must collect the debts of all consumers. If we can’t do this, it is impossible for us to make investments and pay off our own debts.”
Mr Büyükyılmaz also stated that Kıb-Tek had to pay 150 million TL for fuel oil needs for June and July and that Aksa, the private Turkish energy firm that runs one of the TRNC’s two power stations, which is paid 75 million TL every month, is owed two months of payments.
“We owe 10 banks,” Mr Büyükyılmaz continued: “Unless we can collect our receivables, we have to go into debt over and over again.
“In order to cope with this we have no choice but to cut off the electricity of state institutions, which we see as high-level consumers.”
Some state bodies, which collectively owe 39 million TL, have not paid their electricity bills for “four years” he noted.
Mosques, which also had their energy supply temporarily disconnected on Tuesday, owe 6 million TL, but their power was restored after a payment plan for mosques was agreed.
“General consumer” debt to KıbTek stands at 262 million TL, Mr Büyükyılmaz added.
Cyprus Turkish Electricity Authority Workers Union (El-Sen) president Kubilay Özkıraç said that El-Sen was not responsible for the latest cuts, but that he “absolutely supports” the action taken by the Kıb-Tek board.