Gov’t announces $2.5M electricity relief through to year-end

The government has allocated a further $2.5 million for electricity subsidies through the end of the year, Minister for Communications and Works Kye Rymer announced.

Speaking on the Virgin Islands Voice programme last evening, Rymer said Cabinet had approved the funding in a Schedule of Additional Provisions. He thanked Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley for making the money available.

The additional allocation follows relief announced for August and September after consumers complained about sharp increases in their electricity bills.

“We added one million per month,” Rymer said, describing the government’s earlier three-month subsidy programme.

“When the August bills came out, there was that outrage,” he added.

Rymer said customers had been shocked by the cost of electricity after receiving subsidies in previous months. He contacted the Minister of Finance, and the government subsequently announced credits and subsidies for August and September.

The minister said the latest allocation would continue assistance through the remaining months of the year, including the Christmas period. He noted that the government had provided electricity relief around Christmas for the past three or four years.

In August, the government announced that it would credit customers’ August electricity bills and apply a subsidy to September bills. The BVI Electricity Corporation had already distributed the August bills and could not withdraw them, so it promised to adjust customers’ accounts instead.

At that briefing, Rymer attributed the increases to July fuel costs rather than higher electricity tariffs or changes to the corporation’s base rates. He also identified investment in solar energy as the government’s longer-term response to dependence on imported diesel.

During Wednesday’s programme, Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley said the government had to balance revenue collection with concessions and spending to help residents meet higher costs.

He said officials would continue monitoring the situation and assessing measures to soften the impact of inflation. The Premier said the additional subsidy would help residents during the fourth quarter and Christmas.

Dr Wheatley also called for greater use of solar energy to reduce exposure to external price increases. He referred to the Solar Technology Energy Programme and encouraged further participation by consumers and greater use of solar power in the public sector.

“We have to make ourselves more resilient by doing things which are within our control. And one of the things which are within our control is going solar,” Dr Wheatley said.