Sharper Monthly Power Adjustments Could Hit Consumers
Could your electricity bill soon change more sharply from one month to the next? The Public Utilities Commission is reviewing a proposal to double the Cost of Power Adjustment cap from five to ten percent. Energy Ministry CEO Dr. Leroy Almendarez says the review comes as BEL spends close to two million dollars monthly on diesel generation, driving the cost of supplying power above the established reference price.
Leroy Almendarez
Dr. Leroy Almendarez, CEO, Ministry of Energy
“With the first Cost of Power Adjustment [COPA] when it was at five percent, you do the average of six months, there’s a reference that is used. It’s just like buying something, if the price is a dollar per pound, for example, and it increases. What happens in a case like that. In this case, where energy is concerned, because the averages show that it exceeded the reference cost of power, it’s about thirty cents, put it that way, then there is some adjustment that is done on a monthly basis. Now the public was aware of that one; but, with the continuous use of diesel, buying diesel and BEL using diesel for generation, it’s costing them… the last figures I heard, it’s close to one-point-four, closer to two million dollar a month, for consumption, for the use of diesel to put power into our homes. So, basically what they are saying is that cost of power is supposed to be a passthrough. Let the Public Utilities Commission review and see whether or not you increase that cap from five to ten percent which would be ten percent of thirty cents up, or ten percent downward if that cost of power was supposed to go down. Now, the PUC has put it out in the public and I was happy for that because the public has to be concerned [about] cost of living and if this increases my cost of living. And so, I believe a period of time, I don’t know if it has expired already, and it’s for the public to indicate, but you can’t just say yes or no. You must give your reason why you don’t believe that PUC should consider it.”
The final decision now rests with the PUC, which must determine whether BEL’s higher costs justify greater monthly changes to electricity rates.
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