Onasagoras
The whole solar panel initiative could have been—let’s be honest—one of the few success stories of the government. The mighty Energy Ministry gave it their best shot, even coming up with a catchy, almost poetic slogan that this column has been using for years: Solar Panels for Everyone! Wow. Finally, we thought. What could possibly go wrong? The sun not rising? It’s impossible. Time to celebrate, we shouted, while another Savvopoulos fan in the background sang Oh, Sun, our Mighty Leader!
Unfortunately—don’t ask me how we managed this—but the whole thing quickly spiraled into yet another fiasco. Citizens are not just disappointed, they’re furious, and rightly so. They feel—again—that they’ve been duped by the Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC), which has once again failed to deliver. From solar panels for everyone—which, turns out, was a fairytale—we’ve ended up with power cuts for everyone, a sad and infuriating reality.
this is a massive scandal that needs to be investigated. Ministers are involved. Private interests are involved. And if you ask me if I have a suspicion about what really went down.
Now, how exactly did the EAC end up unable to manage Cyprus’ endless sunshine (to the point of literally throwing it away)? This should be a case study in universities under the title The Ultimate Strategy for Self-Destruction. Because while everyone saw the rapid adoption of solar panels—really the only way the average citizen could escape insane electricity bills—the EAC made zero effort to plan for energy storage. No infrastructure, no strategy. Instead, they did what they do best: abandon the very consumers they were supposed to serve.
Basically, every possible mistake was made. Everything that could have salvaged the situation wasn’t done. And now, here we are, with citizens so fed up that they’re planning a protest outside the Presidential Palace.
So, were those in charge (who, let’s not forget, haven’t made a single good decision in years) incompetent or corrupt? Or both? Did EAC officials propose solutions, only to have them rejected by successive governments—out of ignorance or self-interest? Hard to say without getting our hands on at least a decade’s worth of meeting minutes on renewable energy policy. But one thing is clear: this is a massive scandal that needs to be investigated. Ministers are involved. Private interests are involved. And if you ask me if I have a suspicion about what really went down. Well, let’s just say it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what’s making that meow-meow sound on the roof…it’s definitely not a multilingual penguin.
The Energy Minister (George Papanastasiou) is still trying, bless them, but unless they conduct deep research and actual investigations, they’ll get nowhere. Every player in this mess is trying to mislead them, shifting the blame from one to the other. The stakes? Massive. The money? Astronomical. And, my dear George, never forget: This. Is. Cyprus.
I rest my case.
