Energy Fiji Ltd (EFL) has registered 35,103 Fijian households under the Government’s Electricity Subsidy Scheme, says chief executive officer Hasmukh Patel.
According to Mr Patel as of April 1, 2020, the Government subsidises 48 per cent and EFL subsidises the remaining 52 per cent for the first 100 units of electricity usage per month for all registered domestic subsidy customers whereby the customers only have to pay the VAT component and normal domestic tariff rate applies for any additional units consumed over 100 units.
He said the subsidy scheme was earlier referred to as the “lifeline tariff” intended to assist the low-income households in Fiji, adding that the provisions and conditions had evolved over the years with the qualification and classification of low income households.
Based on a statement from EFL yesterday, the Government Electricity Subsidy provides for domestic account holders to save 48 per cent on the first 100 units of electricity usage per month, however, this is subject to the particular account holder’s combined family household annual income being $30,000 or less, and the account holder registers and qualifies for this electricity subsidy.
He said in March 2020, there were 33,665 Fijian households registered for the subsidy scheme, in April 2020, this grew by 4.27 per cent with an additional 1438 new households to the list.
