400,000 smart meter rollout set to go ahead in Cyprus

Following a tender review, local press has reported that the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority (CyTA) can proceed with the 400,000 smart meter rollout across the island.

In February 2024 Cyprus’s Electricity Authority, the state-owned energy company, awarded the tender for the smart meter rollout to CyTA at a cost of €39.9 million (US$43.4 million), according to a report in the Cyprus Mail.

However, the award was challenged by one of the other two bidders, Logicom Solutions, which had put in the lowest bid at €33.6 million.

The third from New Cytech Business Solution was at €37.6 million.

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According to the Cyprus Mail report, Logicom argued that in awarding the bid, the Authority had violated essential terms of the tender.

However, the Tenders Review Authority upheld the Electricity Authority’s decision, basing its finding on reasons of public interest.

The decision is quoted as reading: “Any further delay in implementing the contract would raise the spectre of serious repercussions both for Cyprus and for EAC customers, via the loss of financing from the European Union, by no means a paltry sum…”

In presenting the case Giorgos Petrou, chairman of the board at the Electricity Authority, had suggested that delays could raise the risk of Cyprus losing funds designated in the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility.

For those, according to the Cyprus Mail, the deal with the meter supplier must be finalised by March 2024.

Moreover, the Electricity Authority must receive 50,000 smart meters of which 15,000 are installed by September 2024 and by June 2026 all 400,000 smart meters must be received with 250,000 installations completed.

According to an earlier Cyprus Mail report, the Electricity Authority had earmarked a total of €50 million for the smart meter replacements, of which €35 million would come from the Recovery and Resilience Facility.

The same report also indicated that the 400,000 smart meters would correspond to about two-thirds of the metered base, with some customers staying with their traditional meters for cost or practical reasons, such as the elderly who felt that they could not effectively be served with them.

This is not the first time the rollout has been delayed. In April 2022 the bid was awarded to New Cytech but was challenged by Ningbo.