No Increase to Cost of Electricity

There will be no increase in the cost consumers pay for electricity for 2019-2020; that’s at least for now following a decision from the Public Utilities Commission. Back on April first, Belize Electricity Limited submitted a proposal of the P.U.C. that the cost of electricity remain at forty-one cents per kilowatt hour for the period July first, 2019 to June thirtieth, 2020. The Commission made an initial decision on April thirtieth approving the proposal. While the P.U.C. after revision approved a small increase in the mean electricity rate, the cost remains the same.

John Avery, Chairman, Public Utilities Commission

“The mean electricity rate, we put a lot of significance on that in the public and especially at these press briefings because it is the easiest tool to compare. However, the mean electricity rate doesn’t really carry any significance other than the tariffs that are charged on an average should approximate the mean electricity rate. It is not binding, it is almost impossible for the tariffs to come back directly to that. And so the mean electricity rate is good for comparative purposes, however, it is not that significant in the grand scheme of things. But when we got that forty-one point four one cents, it represented a mere point four percent increase in the mean electricity rate that was approved in December and when you apply that point four percent across the board to the existing tariffs, the amounts were so insignificant that practically there are no changes in the tariffs.”