The grid’s capacity to meet Cyprus’ electricity demand on Monday evening will be “limited”, the transmission system operator (TSO) said, as Cyprus’ energy consumption spikes amid freezing temperatures.

It confirmed that a fault had occurred at the Vasiliko power station in the early hours of Monday morning, and that as such, capacity would be strained through peak hours on Monday evening, between 6pm and 9pm.

“While efforts are being made to repair the fault and the issue is being carefully managed by all involved bodies … it would be helpful for consumers and the public to save electricity to the extent possible during these hours,” the TSO said.

The limited capacity comes ahead of what may be the coldest night of Cyprus’ big freeze, which has seen temperatures drop as low as a single degree above freezing in Nicosia and well into the negative numbers in the mountains. Temperatures in Nicosia are set to plunge to minus two overnight.

Should demand exceed supply, electricity may once again be procured from the north, as it was last week after a fault at the Dhekelia power station left the Republic unable to fulfil its own electrical needs.

The north’s electricity authority Kib-Tek workers’ trade union El-Sen leader Ahmet Tugcu said the electricity authority (EAC) had requested from Kib-Tek that 20 megawatts of electricity be provided to the Republic between the hours of 6pm and 9pm on four days last week.

Kib-Tek had on Monday said it was itself experiencing “no problem in energy supply” amid Cyprus’ big freeze, despite demand in the north increasing by 18 per cent.