Residents to get 3 months of BVIEC fuel surcharge subsidies
Public Works and Utilities Minister, Kye Rymer, said the National Unity Government has been listening to the cries of the people over rising electricity costs.
In that regard, the minister has announced that the government will be offering a remedy from October through to December of this year to help shoulder the burden of those expenses.
Rymer, while describing the situation as causing serious hardship on residents, said in a statement issued last evening, September 12 that the government will be instituting a subsidy to mitigate against the fuel surcharge element of the high electrical bills emanating from the government-owned BVI Electricity Corporation (BVIEC).
“In the Schedule of Additional Provisions (SAP) recently approved by the Cabinet and the House of Assembly (HOA), government has allocated some funds to help to lower residential electricity bills,” the Minister said.
“Government will be subsidising 50 percent of the fuel oil surcharge on residential electricity bills for the months of October and November 2022, and for the month of December 2022 the subsidy will be 100 percent of the fuel oil surcharge for residential electricity bills.”
The SAP was approved by Cabinet some three weeks ago and was passed by the HOA about two weeks ago.
He further explained that certain measures needed to be put in place for the subsidy’s implementation and that these have since been completed.
Rymer, in the meantime, explained that the formula for calculating electricity bills has already been set in legislation.
“Electricity bills have three major components in their calculation. First, there is a flat $2.50 per month for the service. Second, there are standard charges based on the quantity of energy consumed. The third component is the fuel oil surcharge, which is tied to the price of fuel; and oil prices have risen to record high levels since the escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict,” the Minister explained.
Legislators too are suffering
Rymer further noted that elected officials are also directly affected by these escalating costs.
“We, the ministers and members of the government, have also been experiencing increases in the fuel oil surcharges in our private electricity bills,” Rymer said.
The minister largely blamed the issue of rising electricity costs on the Russia-Ukraine conflict which began in February 2022 and said since the start of the COVID-19 global pandemic in March 2020, the pockets of people worldwide have been hit by the rise in the cost of goods and services.
“Practically no one has been spared and the Virgin Islands has not been exempted nor immune to these international developments,” Rymer argued.
He also expressed that these events have caused significant disruptions in the supply of food, raw materials for industry, and the availability and price of fuel on the international market.
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Every little bit counts so I am thankful.
The situation would also be helped if Government actually paid their BVIEC bills. Then again, they are so high, and it is all the public’s money so we would probably regress even further should Government have to find the money to pay those bills. What a mess this last few decades of politicians have put us in.
New leaders, with new vision are needed, but my God, they are going to have a rocky road to get us out of this hole!
That’s great but what about Commercial subsidies.
The same way you will give away those store spaces in that new building in hunthums ghut to your cronies.
On my last bill the usage charge was $103.00, fuel surcharge $96.00, near a 100% increase!
I want to see a reduction in BVIEC expenses, no new trucks, no personal vehicles, management taking pay cuts, until they are back to a point a no more than 20% increase in usage balances their budget.
Nothing is more annoying than seeing them wasting money and sticking us with the bill.
This will be a central issue at the next election; who will reign in these GSB’s and their profligate spending. Elected representatives need to represent us and get Gov spending under control!!
That is indeed helpful Mr Rymer. However, I think Government needs to think on a long-term plan that would assist the people because the suffering then starts again after three months, and we know what happens after Christmas.
That is indeed helpful Mr Rymer. However, I think Government needs to think on a long-term plan that would assist the people because the suffering then starts again after three months.
If you need to reduce food costs you need to support businesses also. The storage of frozen and chilled food has doubled. The 5% reduction does not really effect the price of the items apart from FISH which is 15% Beef is normally 5% so not changed.
So the concern of rising food prices is also not being addressed. We have seen a double electricity. Even cutting down storage areas has not really effected the price of the electricity.
So if you want to help the businesses lower their prices you need to support them aswell.
as an exable a freeser is running at $750 month bow $1500 so where can you recover the loss only by increasing the price of the items sold.
No relief for businesses so the residential customers will save $10 in fuel surcharge and spend an extra $12 at businesses who have no choice but to charge more because BVIEC is killing them.
Keep in mind the 1800 or so new voters who do not want things to stay the same as they have been. IF you want to be re-elected you will need to more seriously address our concerns; you have already lost my vote for the pathetic way you have run Public Works, further degrading the quality of life in the Territory.
We have some real small thinkers and idiots in charge whether Government and EC. This bandage only proves that the surcharge is bogus. I really don’t know what the heck Kye is smiling about
How about Government fixes its own issues and pays it damn bill and workout a payment plan since they are broke. Whilst doing so become efficient and cap it’s expenses like it’s being run by intelligence rather than stupidity.
And then EC work on its operational issues so that it operates more efficiently. The board and management of EC needs to go.
Otherwise the public is paying a inefficiency tax ie paying for bad governance and management by the Government and EC.
you think our lil petty argument and action will have any effect on what is happening in the world. Do you think this is a BVI only problem. I never hear any of our elected representatives acknowledge or speak openly about the root of the problems that we are experiencing. It is always presented as something which has a local solution that they can handle in cabinet. Please educate yourself and citizens to the reality of the global narrative and how we should move as a people to counter the effect on us as a developing country. These lil band aid solutions mean nothing in THE GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS.
Not all of us have businesses but all of us has a residence. So we are all benefitting.
Let’s thank God for the little relief cause I know its hard for lots o
of us.
Not all of us have businesses but all of us has a residence. So we are all benefitting.
Let’s thank God for the little relief cause I know its hard for lots of us.
These people have no clue on what they are doing. thanks for the 3 month break. Hopefully the bill doesn’t double in the forth month and thereafter.
And EVERY SINGLE PERSON who has a residence, who are therefore residents, MUST utilize the services of businesses in going about their life so what is your point? What’s the use ‘saving’ on the surcharge to pay the same money in increased costs because the businesses have no choice but to pass the ridiculous surcharge fees on to customers? There is a misconception that businesses will always have money and that’s a dangerous thing.
I guess no one regulates them, so they can charge whatever they want, and we have to beg government to help.
No plan, no vision, all temporary bandaids before the big collapse. They took a page right out of someone else’s book. Under new plans, a typical UK household will pay no more than £2,500 a year on their energy bill for the next two years from 1st October, through a new Energy Price Guarantee which limits the price suppliers can charge customers for units of gas.
Note the date, do a simple google search and everywhere is having the same issues. What’s puzzling most times they implement these changes on the same dates or somewhere around there….mmmmh. Just thinking out loud.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-announces-energy-price-guarantee-for-families-and-businesses-while-urgently-taking-action-to-reform-broken-energy-market#:~:text=Under%20new%20plans%2C%20a%20typical,customers%20for%20units%20of%20gas.
I think the real misconception is that businesses will past on the cost saves to the customers. So far, I have yet to seen any real evidence to this.
While I am thankful for the three mths of relief, I find the government to be slow and shortsighted, first of all they took to long to implement secondly this problem will still be around 6mths from now and why is it not effective from September.
The corporation is just as much to blame for the problem as government is. They have tried blocking and stalling all alternatives, to help the citizens of these virgin islands.
I think that the public just want to know clearly what’s the cost per kilowatt in fuel surcharge and how you arrive at that figure based on the fuel prices and whatever else… like let’s just make sure first we not being overcharged before we subsidize anything because what happens after 3 months?… we go back to the high electricity bills?
Well you businesses are already overcharging so there is no need to increase, period,