Bajans paying more for electricity

After about a year of enjoying moderately stable electricity rates, Barbadians are now paying slightly more for power.

There has been an approximate 10 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) increase in the Fuel Clause Adjustment (FCA) rates on electricity bills, when compared to a year ago.

The FCA is a mechanism designed to recover the cost of fuel oil used in the generation of electricity. It adjusts the price that customers pay for each kWh of electricity as the cost of the fuel used to generate electricity rises and falls.

The FCA reflects changes in the price of fuel on the international market.

The cost of crude oil reached a high of around US$75 this year, up from about an average of US$40 last year.

For the month of May last year, the FCA on the bill was 16.2176 cents/kWh. For June it was 19.6391 cents/kWh, before rising to 22.5850 cents/kWh in July and remaining at that rate until January this year when it reached just over 23 cents/kWh.

It has been rising slightly since then and has reached 29.9832 cents/kWh for the month of May and June. For this month, the FCA has increased to 31.9296 cents/kWh.

This means that if a household customer used 130 kWh of electricity for the month of July last year, the base fuel cost on the bill would be $29.36. If the same 130 kWh was used this month, the cost for that portion of the bill would be $41.51.

In addition to the charge on electricity usage per kWh, an electricity bill for domestic customers also consists of other charges, including a customer charge and Value Added Tax (VAT). (MM)