The Regulated Industries Commission (RIC) has proposed increases in electricity rates of between 15 and 64 per cent, depending on consumption.
The suggested rates were revealed at a media conference held at the Trinidad Hilton in Port of Spain on Thursday.
RIC Chairman Dawn Callendar, in her presentation, said the RIC also proposed three changes to residential rates, including a monthly billing cycle instead of a bill every two months, a widening of the tiers of consumption for payments and the introduction of a fourth consumption tier – higher than 1,400 kilowatt-hours (kWh).
She revealed that the first tier, 0-200 kWh, would have a proposed charge of 28 cents per kWh, tier two, from 200-700 kWh, would have an electricity charge of 40 cents. From 700-1,400 kWh, there would be a charge of 54 cents and greater than 1,400 kWh would have a suggested charge of 68 cents.
It would translate to increases in the electricity bills for residences.
With the current rates, a household consuming 200 kWh for two months would have a $58 bill. With the proposed changes in the charges, that same household would have a $71 bill, a 22 per cent increase.
For the average home which has an estimated usage of 600 kWh according to officials in the RIC, the current rates would mean that the home would have to pay a $174 bill. The proposed changes would increase that bill to $207, a 19 per cent jump.
[caption id="attachment_993452" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Proposed electricity rates as suggested by the Regulated Industries Commission (RIC) at a media conference at the Hilton Trinidad, Port of Spain, on Thursday. - ROGER JACOB[/caption]
For residences using 7,000 kWh, the current rates would mean that the household would have a $2,522 bill. With the proposed changes the rates would increase by 64 per cent, to $4,139.
For businesses the rates are even higher. Commercial entities using electricity at a rate of 500 kWh would currently pay $232.50 bi-monthly (every two months). The new rates would bump their charges up by 63 per cent or $147.50, to $380.
If a commercial entity is using 1,500 kWh, it would currently pay $647.50 every two months. That bill will increase by 54 per cent, or $352.50 to $1,000. On the higher end of consumption, about 5,000 kWh, the rates will increase by 51 per cent, from $2,100 to 3,170, a difference of $1,070. For businesses consuming more than 5,000 kWh increases in rates would range between 10 per cent and 11 per cent of the current rates.
Both Callendar and RIC executive director Glenn Khan made it a point to highlight that, despite the increases, TT still has the lowest rates in the region, second only to Suriname.
Khan added the RIC determined its rates based on what they determined was affordable, especially for low-income homes.
“What we did was, one of our engineers looked at appliances in the home including lamps and determined what would be the consumption if someone only had a few items such as two fans, a stove, a fridge, television or radio,” he said.
Callendar said
