BVIEC defends bill increases after gov’t subsidy
The BVI Electricity Corporation (BVIEC) has responded to a wave of public complaints over rising electricity bills, attributing the increases to a sharp global fuel price spike while maintaining that government and internal subsidies reduced the overall impact on consumers.
The BVIEC also stressed that subsidies only reduced, but did not eliminate, the impact on consumers.
Social media users expressed frustration in the wake of recent bills, with some reporting steep increases despite the government’s announced subsidy.
“My bill doubled. My fuel surcharge is $343! It’s more than my actual bill!!!” one resident wrote. Another said, “Living on this island is becoming more and more impossible… get a bill for $230.”
Others questioned billing structures and surcharges.
“I want to know why there are three different surcharges… Like wth… my bill is more than my actual consumption,” one post stated, while another claimed, “Imagine not being on island for 18 days and your electricity bill remains the same as the previous month.”
In response, BVIEC issued a detailed explanation, linking the increases to a sudden global oil shock. “What began as a relatively stable year for fuel costs was upended in a single month by a geopolitical crisis thousands of miles away,” the corporation stated, pointing to the disruption of a major oil shipping route, which “effectively shut down, sending global fuel prices surging to levels the British Virgin Islands had never experienced in recent memory.”
A price crisis
The BVIEC said the spike was driven entirely by fuel prices rather than increased usage. “The quantity of fuel burned was not the problem in March… The crisis was entirely a price crisis, not a consumption crisis,” it explained.
According to the corporation, the average fuel price rose by 55 per cent in one month, pushing the fuel surcharge to $0.25381 per kilowatt-hour. However, BVIEC stressed that this figure already reflects subsidies.
“It is critical to understand that this $0.25381 is already the reduced figure, after BVIEC applied its mandated fuel subsidy,” the corporation said, noting that the gross surcharge would have been significantly higher without intervention.
The corporation also highlighted that electricity rates have remained unchanged since 1978, even as production costs have risen. “The Corporation charges customers as little as 16.75 cents per kWh for large consumers, while it now costs nearly 24 cents to produce each one,” BVIEC explained.
The power copany added that it absorbed $2.64 million in subsidies in March, while the government contributed an additional $1 million, bringing total relief to more than $3.6 million for the month.
“Together, over $3.6 million in combined relief was deployed… to reduce the impact on every customer,” the corporation stated in its response to one complaint.
The corporation maintained that the fuel surcharge reflects global fuel costs and said the March increase highlights the territory’s dependence on imported diesel for electricity generation.
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the fuel price did increase THIS MONTH but that bill was for MARCH so there was no fuel bill increase and the fuel you are using for APRIL was already purchased , fuel is no longer a commodity once it reaches its user which is the BVIEC, so stop….
This is the type of comment that is helpful. Please inform the public further about this point.
The latest bill that has just been released is actually from 21st March to 21st April, so covers more of April than March
I come with receipts. I requested a meter reading on March 30th and a bill was generated. The fuel surcharge at that time was billed at 0.164. FOUR DAYS later on April 3rd they did their scheduled reading – fuel surcharge now being billed at 0.321 – almost DOUBLE in 3 days.
This increased fee has been implemented as soon as the global fuel price increased. Way before BVIEC actually incurred any additional fuel costs.
The gas stations did it too. They raised prices well before they finished the fuel they had purchased at the lower price.
Gauging at the cost of the consumer….
On when the meters are read – mine are early in the month.
The point of the government assistance was to combat the fuel prices not increased usage tho, so what are they really talking about fr..just saying anything to sound sensible
That’s why you buy futures in fuel ahead of time instead of waiting to run low and then paying whatever the market rate is at the time.
NO MORALITY SET A CROOKS THE HELL WE PAYIN EXTRA FOR NEED GO BUY SOLAR PANELS AND GET OFF THE GRID
What happens at night, or when it is overcast?
Have batteries and conserve
solar systems pay for themselves in 5-6 years at todays prices.
but get quality equipment , there is a lot of cheap stuff out there.
Large commercial users should be paying the highest rate, not the lowest. BVIEC structure is too poor to offer large user discounts. Where else they going to get it. Commercial should be subsidizing residential, not other way around.
They’re talking nonsense. When tenders go out, they simply choose the lowest bid without locking in prices. Then they claim they source oil from Texas, where prices have recently increased—but when prices fall, the savings are never passed on. So what’s really happening? Are they storing enough oil locally to stabilize prices, or not?
As Diego pointed out before, the price keeps fluctuating because they don’t purchase and store oil in bulk. There are better ways to manage this instead of putting constant pressure on ordinary people. When costs rise, the electricity provider should absorb some of that impact rather than passing it entirely onto consumers. It’s unfair—and unfortunately, it’s a pattern seen across the Caribbean.
A plan for energy is needed. A quick helpful fix would be to go to increasing block rates instead of decreasing which is how it is billed now.