The confusion surrounding the purchase of smart meters continues, nearly a month after the Administrative Court canceled the contract award to CYTA, leaving the matter unresolved.

Although potential solutions are being discussed, no alternative plan for purchasing and installing smart meters has been identified.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Energy is considering classifying smart meters as critical infrastructure, which would allow the purchase process to proceed outside the public tender system.

Despite the delay in the contract signing that was originally scheduled for March, the government has not yet requested an extension from the European Commission for the project's completion.

Sources speaking to Brief note that while there's a risk of losing €35 million in EU funding through the Resilience Plan if deadlines are missed, there's still time to meet the September milestone.

According to the Recovery and Resilience Fund's binding timelines, following the cancellation of the earlier tender, the contract signing should have occurred by the end of March 2024. The initial plan involved the delivery of 50,000 meters and the installation of 15,000 by September 2024, with 400,000 meters delivered and 250,000 installed by June 2026.