BEL applies to PUC for tariff adjustments
And if Belize Electricity Limited has its way, pretty soon, Belizean consumers will also be paying more for power. In a press release issued by the electricity company today, BEL says it has applied to the Public Utilities Commission for permission to raise its rates. BEL says the changes in their prices per kilowatt hour are in direct response to rising cost of petroleum products.
Lynn Young, C.E.O., Belize Electricity Limited
?We have been observing the increase in oil prices for the last two/three years. It?s reached a point where we just–you know in the middle of this year our prices took a steep increase and they?re still going up–in fact the last time we checked it, it was like fifty-one dollars a barrel. So we applied for an adjustment now because we think that if we hold off, we are going to have to apply for even a bigger increase.?
Janelle Chanona
?How much exactly are you applying for??
Lynn Young
?We are applying for three cents, which works out a little bit less than ten percent adjustment on the rates. For the fifteen thousand customers that are on the social rate for example, we are looking at maybe four dollars a month increase. Where as the average residential customer would probably see somewhere between six and eight dollars a month increase in their bill if the PUC approves our request.?
Janelle Chanona
?Now for the Belizean consumer who is looking at rising fuel prices for their gas tanks, Butane went up again today, telephone rates being what they are and now BEL says you know what, I need more money from you. What do you say to the Belizean consumer who is maybe feeling like they?re taking a hit from every direction??
Lynn Young
?I can understand that because we feel the same way. The rates from CFE have gone up thirty percent. The diesel that we pay for has gone up a hundred percent and fuel accounts for over sixty percent of our cost. So it?s been a struggle for us over the last few years. What I can say to the consumer is that, I hope they can understand and nobody likes what?s happening and we don?t expect anybody to be happy about this. We have a record of twenty years of continuous reduction. The last increase was in 1984 when rates were forty-three cents and since then over the last twenty years we have reduced the rates down to an average of about thirty-five cents per kilo watt hour. So it took a lot of soul searching to come to this point where we are breaking that record.?
In related news, today the PUC announced that through funding from the Inter-American Development Bank Multi-lateral Investment Fund, it has initiated a two-year project with a mandate to increase overall efficiency by ensuring that the commission has adequate technical, regulatory, and institutional resources at its disposal.
