Debt collectors to go after unpaid electricity bills

The Cyprus Electricity Authority is resorting to private debt collectors to go after unpaid bills, following criticism that the organisation lost €65 million in late payments or defaulted accounts.

The EAC has been jumping from one policy to another over the years regarding late payments, with the government often having to step in to give grace periods to low income homes and businesses who couldn’t afford to pay their bill during holidays or extreme weather conditions.

The office of Auditor General Odysseas MIchaelides, which had issued a damning report against EAC, said the state owned company failed to implement reliably any policy to collect what is owed to the organisation.

But on Thursday, Michaelides published his new report in which he mentioned that EAC was exploring options to collaborate with private collector companies to assist in getting money back.

Two to three companies fit the profile so far according to EAC.

These companies will have specialists who will be able to investigate and track down customers who have defaulted, even if they changed address or have foreign nationalities, in order to exert pressure on them to pay.

EAC will pay accordingly, depending on how much money the collectors will put back into the company.

Many payment pans, agreed between EAC and customers, have not been implemented according to Michaelides, while noting that many times the company does not cut power to homes resulting in a non-incentive for people to pay.

Out of €65 million owed to EAC, €31.4 is estimated to be long due while approximately another €15 million is past due over a year.

In one case, a customer reportedly failed 19 consecutive times to follow a late payment plan, and as a result the total amount due went up.

A random sample taken by the auditor general’s office revealed that none of the account owners under a late payment plan in 2017, who owed back charges, followed through with any payment.

In another random sample of 1787 late payment cases showed that officials failed to cut power to 156 customers primarily due to having no access to their electric meter.