The Board of Directors of the Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC) decided to award the contract for the purchase of 400,000 smart meters to CYTA.

It is noteworthy that CYTA submitted the highest bid of €40 million, despite the project being funded with €35 million from the Recovery Fund.

Other companies also submitted bids for this project. The offers were as follows:

• CYTA: €39,938,170

• NewCytech Business Solution: €37,662,478

• Logicom Solutions Ltd: €33,694,867

As reported to Brief by a responsible source from EAC, CYTA's offer was deemed superior by the EAC Board of Directors, even though it was the highest.

The EAC is scheduled to sign the contract by March. However, there might be delays as there is a possibility of an appeal from another company.

According to the binding timelines set by the Recovery and Resilience Facility, following the cancellation of the previous tender, the contract signing must occur by the end of March 2024. The delivery of 50,000 meters and the installation of 15,000 of these are expected by September 2024, and the delivery of 400,000 meters with 250,000 installed by June 2026.

It should be mentioned that, according to an EAC source, the latest tender has achieved a reduction in timelines – from 36 months to 25 months, and a decrease in the number of smart meter deliveries, from 8 to 5.