By Bejay Browne.
The mayor of Paphos has hit out at the Cyprus Electricity Authority over lengthy waiting times for the connection of power supply, which can be reduced to mere days if customers are prepared to pay.
In a Facebook post, mayor Phedonas Phedonos called out the EAC for greedy and lazy behaviour, asking for the relevant ministry to intervene.
“They (the EAC), give you an appointment for a power connection for your premises in 2 to 3 months time, and tell you that if you’re in a hurry, you can pay overtime for the EAC staff to come in just 2 to 3 days to carry out the necessary checks and connect you,” Phedonos posted.
The situation came into focus after the municipality applied to the EAC to connect a number of new buildings in town, including its flagship social welfare care centre.
The impressive, state-of-the-art multi purpose centre is located on Vasilios Konstantinos Street. One of its aims is to cater for children of working parents.
The mayor met with representatives from the EAC to connect the new building and was told that it is official policy to pay for work to be done if customers wish it to be done in a timely manner, and this applies to everyone.
The municipality must wait two months or so for the work to be done, he was told, or if they want it earlier, they, as is the case with all customers, must pay.
“This is unacceptable behaviour by the EAC,” the mayor said.
Phedonos also accused the authority of time wasting during the morning, and not completing their work, instead leaving it for the afternoons when staff get paid overtime.
“It has become common practice for them to waste their time in the morning, left and right, and yet in the afternoon everyone is at work to get paid overtime.”
The mayor concluded: “I publicly ask for the immediate intervention of the competent minister since the management of the authority does not want to clash with established mentalities and ingrained bad practices.”
