Cyprus Mail www.cyprus-mail.com
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
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Mari explosion trial begins in Larnaca
AEL one step away from Champions League 32
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Next EAC hike: carbon credits Authority dismisses price scare but it concedes charges will rise in January By Elias Hazou
E
LECTRICITY prices are likely to spike as of January 2013 due to a readjustment of the power utility’s fuel cost formula to cover the purchase of carbon credits for greenhouse gas emissions. The Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC) said yesterday the latest increase would be nowhere near those quoted in the media yesterday of 4.74 per cent in 2013, totalling 8.4 per cent by 2020. But it did concede that “logically” electricity prices were set to go up come January 1, 2013 due to the readjustment of the fuel cost formula. Although a spokesman said he could not say by how much exactly, he said according to the EAC’s latest figures, the extra cost from buying carbon credits would amount to 1.0 per cent of its budget for 2013. The EAC adjusts its fuel cost formula - the major component of electric bills - every month. The electricity rate - kilowatt hour (kWh) - is the sum of the fuel cost plus the price of carbon credits. Launched in 2005, the EU Emissions Trading System
(ETS) works on the “cap and trade” principle: there is a “cap”, or limit, on the total amount of certain greenhouse gases that can be emitted by the factories, power plants and other installations in the system. Within this cap, companies receive emission allowances which they can sell to or buy from one another as needed. The limit on the total number of allowances available ensures that they have a value. At the end of each year each company must surrender enough allowances to cover all its emissions, otherwise heavy fines are imposed. If a company reduces its emissions, it can keep the spare allowances to cover its future needs or else sell them to another company that is short of allowances. The number of allowances is reduced over time so that total emissions fall. The major change to ETS is that, from 2013 onwards, the power sector must buy all its emission allowances at auctions or in the market. The next phase of the trading scheme (2013 to 2020) is the introduction of a single EU-wide cap. It will give the
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Essex ‘lion hunt’ called off - police
A participant of the Holi festival is covered with colour pigments in Dresden, Germany. Holi is actually a religious spring festival celebrated by Hindus in many countries across the world during which people cover each other with coloured powders and water (AFP)
POLICE have called off a search for a lion reportedly on the loose in Essex. Officers have spent almost 24 hours combing the countryside around Clacton-on-Sea after a group of residents on Sunday claimed to have seen the king of the jungle near Earls Hall Drive in St Osyth. But after search teams found no evidence of the big cat, the force yesterday afternoon decided to stop looking. An Essex Police spokesman said: “We believe what was seen on Sunday evening was either a large domestic cat or a wildcat. “Extensive searches have been carried out, areas examined and witnesses spoken to; yet nothing has been found to suggest that a lion was in the area. “We would like to thank the local community and holidaymakers for their patience and support throughout the past 24 hours as the police and media presence would have been somewhat overwhelming for them.” The force originally advised residents to remain indoors as the search got under way after 7pm on Sunday. Helicopters with heatseeking equipment were scrambled to an area where the creature was apparently seen, having been shown images of the animal captured by a local that could not be ruled out as being those of a lion.