Consumers, already burdened by high fuel costs, will in November have to pay even higher electricity bills as the fuel surcharge has taken a sharp hike yet again.
It comes as many customers of the Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC) complain about the amount of money they have had to pay this year for the essential service.
The fuel surcharge has nearly tripled since February, when it stood at 4.6237 cents per kilowatt-hour. It has risen steadily since then, jumping to 6.6486 cents by June, climbing to 8.882 cents last month and it will be 11.47 cents per kilowatt-hour this month.
Again, BEC reminds that your electricity bill is made up of the basic rate, which is constant and has not changed since October 2004, and the fuel surcharge, which is based on the price of petroleum in the international market and is calculated monthly using a fixed formula.
“I can say that we continue to monitor the situation and over the past few weeks [the price] has gone up in some instances; it has gone down in others,” BEC General Manager Kevin Basden said yesterday.
“Our message, however, would continue to be conservation [or] proper and responsible use of electricity.”
Mr. Basden has been encouraging conservation throughout the year as the fuel surcharge continued to climb.
He reiterated yesterday that customers who use air conditioning should avoid setting their units to low temperatures.
“At a reasonable temperature, one can save tremendously,” Mr. Basden said.
The BEC general manager also advised that there is no need to set the hot water heater to a point where it is “excessive” because that too drives up electricity bills.
“Of course purchasing energy efficient appliances as well as energy efficient bulbs [is also helpful],” he said. “As simple as turning lights off when they’re not in use [is also helpful].”
Mr. Basden said BEC has also been doing its part to deal with the situation.
“Where we do have a degree of control, we’re continuing to replace older plants with more efficient machinery. We would have mentioned previously a gas turbine-that we’re presently installing. That will be in operation early next year,” he informed.
The BEC general manager noted that the higher fuel costs aren’t just a burden for customers, but are also a burden for the corporation.
“It’s a tremendous burden for the corporation because in fact we pay for the fuel costs and other factors upfront before the customers would have paid us for the usage of the electricity,” he said.
“There are also certain taxes we have to pay from which there is no recovery so it is a tremendous burden to the corporation. It directly impacts our cash flow and that’s why we are concerned what customers are now having to pay; it’s what we’re now having to pay, but we want to emphasize that conservation is the way to go.”
Mr. Basden indicated that because the costs are dictated by the international market, there is no telling when the fuel surcharge will start to go down.
Earlier this year, Minister of Trade and Industry Leslie Miller had said that by September, BEC was expected to start benefiting from the Petrocaribe agreement whereby Venezuela proposes to provide fuel to the region under special payment arrangements.
After signing an initial agreement on behalf of the Bahamian people in Venezuela, an optimistic Minister Miller had high hopes regarding its promised benefits.
“For The Bahamas, BEC can realize a savings of no less than $10 million to $15 million per annum in their fuel costs,” Minister Miller told The Bahama Journal at the time.
In addition to that, BEC, which last year spent in excess of US$100 million for its fuel costs, can now get the benefit of getting 40 percent of the fuel on credit from Petrocaribe, he said.
“BEC can get rebates on fuel and at tremendous savings. If BEC were to purchase $20 million worth of fuel per month, BEC would pay approximately 60 percent of that bill. The balance can be paid over a specified period of time at 1 percent interest rate.”
But the agreement quickly became shrouded in controversy, leading to the government delaying any decision on whether it will sign on to the final plan.
It means that for now consumers will have to continue to stomach higher energy costs. The Department of Statistics has said that these rising prices continue to push the cost of living up.
By: Candia Dames, The Bahama Journal
