CONSUMERS will be paying about 0.91 cents extra per unit for their electricity usage effective from October 1 after the Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission approved a 2.74 per cent increase in electricity tariffs.
However, this increase is 14.53 per cent less than what was requested by Energy Fiji Ltd (EFL) in its submission for increase in electricity tariffs.
FCCC chief executive officer Joel Abraham yesterday said the commission had declined EFL’s request for a 17.27 per cent increase in the electricity tariff based on its findings from its nationwide consultations.
Mr Abraham said the commission was assisted by the New Zealand Commerce Commission.
“FCCC thoroughly scrutinised EFL’s past 10 years of financial performance, including capital expenditure, operating expenditure, financial information, including costs for transmission, generation, distribution, retail and future plans before arriving at our conclusion,” he said.
Mr Abraham said based on the comprehensive analysis of EFL’s expenditure and power development plans, the commission could only justify an increase of 2.74 per cent.
He said the 2.74 per cent (0.91 cents per unit) increase was for domestic, institutions, places of worship and public infrastructure, 1.12 cents per unit for commercial customers and 0.81 cents per unit for industrial customers of EFL.
Moving forward, Mr Abraham said the FCCC would conduct reviews every four years and would also strictly monitor EFL’s capital and infrastructural investments as provided in their submission.
