Limassol’s Access to Electricity
Limassol was the first town to have access to electricity. This happened in 1911 when, with Christodoulos Sozos as Mayor, Limassol Municipality concluded a special agreement with a new company set up by the Egypt-born entrepreneur George Yiangopoulos and subsequently with the Stamatiou brothers (whose origins can be traced to the Greek island of Leros).
Early on during Christodoulos Sozos’ term of office, in 1909, the idea was for a British company to take care of street lighting using gas, but this was seen as insufficient especially at a time when other cities around the world were recording major steps forward in electricity generation, including for commercial purposes. The Industrial Revolution came to Cyprus with the British presence on the island, but it was clear that electricity was a must for the optimum operation of construction sites and for small industrial units (like Tragasol), which Cyprus was very much in need of in its bid for a more dynamic economic life. Already the British, preferring Limassol to Larnaca began in 1879, the construction of the Big Wharf of Limassol, which was a catalyst towards the economic and commercial development of the town. Until that time individual residences were lit with oil lamps and from then onwards, when Limassol had its first Greek Mayor, Christodoulos Karydis, street lights emerged in the form oil lamps raised on building walls or on adjacent poles.
The opportunity to make a step forward arose in 1910, when George Yiangopoulos, a mechanical engineer, came up with a proposition to the municipal council to set up an electricity generator to provide street lighting. As electricity was largely unknown in Limassol back then, the municipality invited a British mechanical engineer, Mr. Colley to evaluate Yiangopoulos’ ideas and express an opinion as to what was best, as from 1909 there was a dilemma between gas and electricity. On January 26 of the year 1911, the Limassol municipality gave the go ahead to Yiangopooulos and a contract to that effect was signed shortly thereafter, on February 15. At a cost of 500 pounds Limassol could have street lights powered by electricity! The official inauguration of the new venture took place on May 21, 1912. Alithia, a Limassol newspaper, reported the following on May 24:
Following the completion of the electricity installations, preliminary trials of the system were conducted on Sunday, first at the electricity station on Sunday and then throughout the town on Monday. Needless to say, the highly conscientious work carried out by Mr. Yiangopoulos and Messrs. Stamatiou Brothers, which were in charge of the whole effort, yielded the desired results and electricity launched from powerful and perfect machines, brought an end to the formerly dark town, with waves on nice, intense and stable light.
On the day of the inauguration, G. Yiangopoulos himself made the following statement:
I wish to make it known that along with my partners Messrs. Stamatiou Brothers, represented by Mr. Aristidis Stamatiou, we have set up the Limassol Electricity Company...
The place was Nikiforos Fokas street in Limassol (parallel to today’s Anexartisia street) where a 200 HP Robey & Co Ltd generator was installed capable of producing 350 R.P.M, which was sufficient for the needs of the time. This arrangement continued until 1915, during the term of office of Mayor Spyros Araouzos, when Yiangopoulos requested that the venture be taken over completely by the Stamatiou Brothers. The new company proceeded with the issuing of shares and took care of providing electricity-generated lighting not just to the common areas of the town, but also to individual shops and households.
As the network expanded, so did the needs and in the year 1931 the Electricity Company invited Itanian electrical engineer Bruno Cannoni (from Siena) to launch a study on the expansion of the network and the relevant infrastructure. Despite the recessionary conditions prevailing at the time, the Company went ahead with the project and Cannoni’s contribution was decisive in that direction. It was he who designed and implemented the new vision of the Company, taking Limassol to the 20th century. (Cannoni’s diary, detailing his work in 1931-32 was published in 2012, with Mimis Sophocleous being in charge overall for this publication, which was sponsored by the Cyprus Electricity Authority).
In 1952-53 the Cyprus Electricity gradually absorbed all small private electricity producing units ushering in a new era for electricity generation in Cyprus.
