A fierce row has erupted over the undersea electricity link between Cyprus and Crete, as Greece’s power grid operator warns to halt work unless it gets millions of euros upfront from Cyprus.

The independent power transmission operator (Admie) is pushing Cyprus’ energy regulator, Cera, for immediate approval to recover costs it says it has already spent in 2023 and 2024 on building the cable. Otherwise, Admie warns it may suspend the project. Yet there is no official figure for how much Admie is demanding. Cypriot sources say the maximum payment Cyprus has committed to is €25 million per year. Under a deal struck last year by the governments of Cyprus and Greece, Cyprus agreed to pay €25 million annually for five years, totalling €125 million. This would happen regardless of Admie’s costs during construction.

The rest of Admie’s expenses, and a capital return of around 8.2 per cent, would be passed on to Cypriot consumers through electricity bills only once the cable becomes operational. When the two governments signed the agreement, Cyprus publicly stated that the first €25 million would be paid in January 2026. But Admie now insists on receiving that sum immediately. It argues, fairly, that there’s no written clause in the deal tying the first payment specifically to January 2026.
Meanwhile, Greece’s energy regulator, RAAEY, has already decided that from this July, Greek consumers will start covering the costs Admie has incurred so far.
Even if Cyprus caves in to pressure and pays Admie the €25 million, or part of it, within weeks, it’s unclear if this would ease Admie’s financial crunch. As Greece’s transmission operator, any financial trouble could severely damage Greek state interests.

Admie says it cannot keep funding the cable’s construction from its own pockets, particularly payments to Nexans, the French firm laying the cable on the seabed. Yet Admie also accepted, through the intergovernmental deal, that Cyprus would not fully cover all its costs during construction, except for the agreed annual sums.
The contract between Admie and Nexans for manufacturing and installing the cable alone is worth €1.4 billion. Experts say it’s obvious that neither Cyprus’s planned payments nor Greece’s consumer contributions are enough for Admie to finish the project without raising more of its own capital. Admie claims it has already spent €120 million. But neither Admie nor the European Commission has revealed how much of this came from a €658 million EU grant. Admie argues that once Cyprus begins reimbursing costs, it will look more credible to lenders. It hopes banks will then provide loans to bridge the remaining funding gap.

However, there’s still no convincing answer from Admie or the Greek government on how lenders can be persuaded to finance a project stalled by geopolitical tensions. Turkey continues to block seabed surveys in international waters, claiming part of the area as its own continental shelf. Potential lenders, like Greece’s National Bank, know that Cyprus’s largest payments to Admie will only come after the cable is built and switched on, a milestone that remains uncertain.
If Admie somehow secures hundreds of millions in loans, the risks of a major political and financial fiasco would grow for both Nicosia and Athens. Greek officials seem less publicly worried. But in Cyprus, politicians fear consumers might end up paying for a €2 billion project without ever receiving its benefits.
The European Commission has re-emerged in the dispute. Reports from the Greek website newmoney.gr suggest Brussels may resume the intense pressure it applied in 2024, urging Cyprus to start paying Admie’s costs now.

A virtual meeting is expected in the coming days involving the two regulators, Admie, and the Commission, to discuss potential payments from Cyprus.
While there’s growing speculation that Nicosia might release part of the €25 million earmarked for January 2026, insiders say paying more than this amount remains highly unlikely. Any higher figure would spark political uproar and public backlash.

Meanwhile, as the Cyprus–Crete project hangs in the balance, Admie presses on with studies for a second phase: a cable linking Cyprus directly to Israel. The operator appears determined to act as though nothing is happening east of Crete, despite mounting doubts over the first interconnection’s future.