No irregularities in price of gas cylinders says ministry service

No irregularities that would justify the intervention of the state have been found regarding the price of gas cylinders, director of the consumer protection service Constantinos Karageorgis said on Monday.

His comments came after the Cyprus Consumers’ Union & Quality of Life association on Sunday slammed the “unjustified” rise in the price of gas cylinders.

But despite admitting their price is indeed high in the current economic climate, Karageorgis said there are no elements pointing to their cost being unfair.

“There have been increases in the prices of key LPG components such as propane and butane in Cyprus,” he told state broadcaster CyBC. “That effectively means that a part of the production cost for gas cylinders has been passed on to consumers, hence the rise in their price.”

Karageorgis, however, said that the consumer protection service is looking for solutions to lower the price of the cylinder, noting that the product has a relatively low demand among the population compared to other goods.

The issue raised by the consumer protection service on Sunday pointed to a steady increase in the price of LPG in parallel to a general decrease in the price of all other fuel.

It said that in November companies were charging customers €1.35 to €1.37/kg but by January this had risen to €1.41 to €1.42 and in February €1.50 to €1.53/kg.

“It is unconceivable that, while temperatures in Cyprus decrease, the price of gas cylinders increases,” the director of the Cyprus Consumers’ Union & Quality of Life association Loukas Aristodemou told CyBC.

“We have taken the issue to the consumer protection service and we still haven’t received any convincing answers to our queries.”

Aristodemou said his association is considering filing a lawsuit against the consumer protection service because there are indications suggesting that the cost of moving LPG facilities from Larnaca to Vasiliko has been included in the price of gas cylinders.

In January this year, gas providers moved to the new VLPG consortium’s LPG terminal in Vasiliko from the Larnaca coastline.

“Consumers are being treated unfairly and this cannot continue,” he concluded.