THE RESIDENTS of mountainous areas are threatening measures against a government decision to cut their heating allowance this year.
A heating allowance has been given since 2003 to anyone living in an altitude of 600 metres or higher.
Residents were expecting some €5 million as help with the winter heating expenses.
The allowance is not part of the budget proper but Cabinet would annually issue a decision to pay it out, until this year when it was cut as part of the state’s efforts to curb expenses, said Tasos Michaelides, head of the mountainous communities’ committee and Palechori community leader.
The communities sent a letter to the Interior Ministry requesting the allowance and received an answer from the ministry’s acting permanent secretary Andreas Ashiotis that they had no money to spare, Michealides told state broadcaster CyBC.
Michaelides said that people struggled because electricity consumption (often the only source of heating) was “many times higher” in the mountains than in the cities.
The winter in Cyprus this year has been unexpectedly cold and long, raising consumption.
On top of that electricity bills – already the most expensive in the EU – have risen after taxpayers were asked to pay a 6.96 per cent surcharge to cover the costs of a naval base explosion in July which damaged the island’s main power station. In addition to the surcharge, an additional 1.5 per cent increase was introduced in January as part of a price increase authorised in 2009 by the energy regulator. VAT will also rise from 15 per cent to 17 per cent on March 1.
Michaelides said a mountain resident may need to pay as much as €6,000 a year “just to heat his home”, and the loss of the allowance made life on the mountains less attractive because it amounted to cuts ranging between €350 and €800.
Michaelides said residents had two choices: “abandon their communities… or else react. Because we have decided to stay in these communities we will react for sure,” Michaelides said.
Michaelides said they would appeal again to the Interior Ministry asking for a meeting and would decide on what measures to take if they were ignored.
The allowance was allocated to household units who got varying amounts depending on family size and altitude, among others. It was normally paid out at some point in February or March, to subsidise the previous winter’s heating expenses, Michaelides said.
“People can’t take any more,” Michaelides said referring to the hefty bills residents in the mountains incurred.
Residents were expecting some €5 million as help with the winter heating expenses this year
