Found at: http://www.anguillaguide.com/article/articleprint/5740/-1/140/
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5 CENTS MORE ON ELECTRICITY MARCH 1 - ANGLEC Blames Fuel Prices
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Come Saturday, March 1, residents in Anguilla will begin paying five cents more for electricity in terms of fuel surcharge. ANGLEC’s General Manager, Neil McConnie, says the company was forced to increase the fuel surcharge from its present rate of 26 cents per unit to 31 cents. He nevertheless pointed out that the company will be absorbing 22 cents of the increased amount in order to reduce the burden on customers and emphasised the need for electricity consumption to save on bills.
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Mr. Erville Hughes, Mr. Neil McConnie and Mr. Elvin Richardson
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Speaking at a press briefing on Tuesday, February 26, Mr. McConnie explained that in Anguilla, like other electric utilities, there was a legislative provision governing price increases as the cost of fuel fluctuates. He quoted the regulations relating to ANGLEC as stating that “the tariff of rates and charges shall be subject to a surcharge of one cent per unit for every 10 cent per gallon increase in the price of fuel oil over EC$3.64 per gallon.”
He noted that it was only in the early period of application that ANGLEC had actually imposed the full statutory value. “In all other cases, between 2004 to date, we have absorbed percentages varying between 25-40% of the surcharge and at present we are absorbing 9 cents of the statutory value,” he stated.
McConnie told the press briefing that the decision to increase the fuel surcharge had been occasioned by “the unprecedented escalation in fuel prices which reached a high of US$101 per barrel last week.” He said that had a direct impact on ANGLEC’s operations with fuel accounting for 73% of the company’s total operating expenditure.
“We are moving 26 to 31 cents so it is going to be a five cents increase,” he continued. “We are absorbing something like 22 cents on this occasion but we have to monitor the fuel price movement. If it continues to go up, we may have to increase the surcharge.”
Information Technology Officer with ANGLEC, Elvin Richardson, gave a brief overview of how much an average customer would pay per month based on the current increase. For example, a customer using 429 kilowatts of electricity per month at the current 26 cents per unit pays about $111.54 in fuel surcharge alone plus the basic and unchanged electricity price amounting to some $399. 93 per month. At the new rate of 31 cents, the fuel surcharge on 429 kilowatts used will go up to about $132.99 per month. When added to the basic electricity cost the total payable at month-end amounts to some $431.38, a difference of $21.45. A customer using the minimum of under 40 kilowatts per month would pay about $2.00 more on their bills with the increase to 31 cents in fuel surcharges.
“What we are saying is that with prudent use of electricity, a consumer can virtually erase whatever increases have been imposed because of the surcharge,” said Mr. McConnie, when asked how customers could respond to the new increase. The General Manager, who also appeared at the press briefing with Erville Hughes, ANGLEC’s Corporate Officer, recommended that they should strive to conserve electricity by turning off lights and air-condition units when not in use, controlling the use of electric water heaters and taking other measures to reduce power consumption.
He noted that a 100-watt bulb left on for unnecessary and extended periods could add up to $34.00 per month to a customer’s electricity bill and he referred consumers to a booklet published by ANGLEC some two years ago which, among other information, sets out various conservation methods that can be adopted.
“This is a very important booklet and we have had customers who said they had put the booklet to full use and they had in fact reduced their electricity bills,” he added. “There is a lot of scope for reduction in the use of electricity and the control of wastage in the consumption. I think at this time world-wide where electricity tariffs have had to be adjusted because of the high rise in fuel prices, that there is a need to drive home the electricity conservation effort which will also have spin-offs in the whole question of greenhouse gases… The less electricity you use the less we have to generate and the less greenhouse gases are emitted. You are forced into a situation where you need and want to conserve electricity and so the invisible spin-off is a reduction in greenhouse gases.”