Gov’t subsidising residential electricity cost for Oct-Dec 2022– Hon Rymer - Subsidy will be 50% of fuel oil surcharge in first two months & 100% in December

ROAD TOWN, Tortola, VI- Acting Premier and Minister for Communications and Works Hon Kye M. Rymer (R5) has announced a new Government subsidy on residential electricity in the Virgin Islands.

Hon Rymer in a statement on September 12, 2022, said subsidy will be implemented over the rising fuel cost and rising electricity cost as a result of the Russia-Ukraine war escalating in February 2022.

“This has been no fault of the BVI Electricity Corporation (BVIEC). It has been the result of the high cost of fossil fuels on the international market,” he added.

Fuel surcharge tied to cost of fuel - Hon Rymer

The Minister highlighted that the formula for calculating electricity bills is set in legislation. Electricity bills have three major components in their calculation. He said first there is a flat $2.50 per month for the service and, secondly, there are standard charges based on the quantity of energy consumed.

“The third component is the fuel oil surcharge, which is tied to the price of fuel; and oil prices have risen to record high levels since the escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Again, as a government, we have been listening to the pleas from the public. Additionally, we, the Ministers and Members of the Government, have also been experiencing increases in the fuel oil surcharges in our private electricity bills,” he added.

He revealed that in the Schedule of Additional Provisions (SAP) recently approved by the Cabinet and the House of Assembly (HOA), Government has allocated some funds to help to lower residential electricity bills.

“Government will be subsidising 50% of the fuel oil surcharge on residential electricity bills for the months of October and November 2022, and for the month of December 2022, the subsidy will be 100% of the fuel oil surcharge for residential electricity bills.