News
Rocketing Electricity Bills; FortisTCI tries public education to soften the blow
By Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicos, August 4, 2022 – Electricity prices will rise significantly this month according to power company Fortis TCI. In an email to customers the company explained that the fuel factor for the July cycle had spiked across the island.
The company said consumers would be facing double digit increases in the fuel factor rate on their newest bills, which came as July turned to August.
“Fuel price increases in June mean an increase in the fuel factor rate, which will be reflected on your next electricity bill. Your July electricity bill will reflect a Fuel Factor charge of $0.2950 per kilowatt hour for Providenciales, North Caicos and Middle Caicos. This is 22.66% higher than last month.”
The increase was slightly lower for Grand Turk and Salt Cay landing at $0.2461, which is 19.88% higher than last month. Last month’s bills were also higher than normal due to rising fuel costs.
FortisTCI sought to sooth residents’ fears about how consumption was calculated stemming from the June increases in an interview aired on Radio Turks and Caicos.
Alvejes Desir, Director of Energy Production said technology upgrades allowed them to do automated meter reads every 15-minutes. This he said meant the consumption was not estimated and customers could read their own meters and compare it to their bills. The meters are also tested and certified, said the director.
Additionally FortisTCI clarified the calculation of the total bills based on the fuel factor and electric rates.
Aisha Laporte, Vice President of Finance, Corporate services and CFO explained that bills are calculated by
multiplying the residents consumption (quoted in kilowatt hours) by the electric rate and by fuel factor rate. Electric costs include the machinery used to actually make and get the electricity to customers while the fuel factor is the cost of fuel used. The electric rate remains steady while the fuel factor changes monthly. Both the electric and fuel factor rates are both vetted by the TCIG.
The rising electricity bills, Laporte explained were dictated by rising oil prices. Diesel is used to run the electricity generators. That diesel is procured from the United States so changes in cost will trickle down
“Russia does supply the US with oil as well— we’ve seen where the Russia Ukraine conflict has caused disruptions with the supply chain— that has contributed to the increase in demand on one hand and restricted supply on the other.”
Additionally the company said that there may be about a month long lag in fuel prices regularly because of the long journey that oil from the US must take before it gets to the Turks and Caicos, Fortis TCI also has a first in first out policy when it comes to oil so that also affects the lag in prices.
Rising temperatures in the summer months played a role in rising costs of electricity according to Laporte. To help they encouraged residents to use the my online account feature, because of the 15-minute readings. Residents can see their consumption in real time.
“We have a smart meter tab that’s on the left-hand side. Once you login and click that tab immediately a graph shows up with your daily usage in addition to that you can click on each day and it will show you your hour by hour consumption,” said Nicquel Garland, Manager of Customer Service
In addition Garland said customers could set a consumption limit and would receive a notification when they got to that limit. Customers can also get percentage notifications so when their current usage gets to 50% etc. of their previous month’s bill they will get a notification.
All data is stored so whenever you sign up all your previous data will be available.
This is an incredibly powerful tool for consumption management and Fortis says with the Ukraine crisis dragging on and the world still recovering from COVID-19 consumption is the key to bill reduction.
Caribbean News
Agriculture Ministry Providing Two Water Trucks to Serve St. Elizabeth and St. Catherine
#Kingston, Jamaica, April 24, 2024 – The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining is to unveil two more water trucks this week, which will be used to service communities in St. Elizabeth and St. Catherine.
Portfolio Minister, Hon. Floyd Green, made the disclosure during Wednesday’s (April 24) post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House.
He also informed that of the $90 million earmarked to support farmers being impacted by the current drought, the Ministry will be
providing additional support for storage and drip-irrigation systems.
“So, we have targeted about 600 water tanks and about 400 12-millimetre drip irrigation hoses, and that distribution has already started. Additionally, we have earmarked about $8 million to really help with our livestock farmers,” Mr. Green said.
“We know the difficulty that you’re facing now in this time; [it’s] very hard to get the right nutritional support for your animals. As such, we will be providing some hay, and we will [also] provide some trucking of water to you. Again, our livestock farmers, if you are in need, please contact the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) and let us see how we can help in these times,” he further stated.
Mr. Green also encouraged farmers to download the RADA App, so that the Agency can “help guide you, not only in relation to what is happening on the rainfall side, but also in relation to your integrated pest management”.
“We do see some increases of certain types of pests during this time, and it’s important that our farmers are paying attention to that. It’s also important that you’re taking drought management seriously [by undertaking] soil mulching, looking at planting drought-tolerant crops, timely harvesting, implementing land husbandry treatments and contour ditches,” he stated.
Contact: Latonya Linton
Release: JIS
Photo Caption: Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Hon. Floyd Green, speaking during Wednesday’s (April 24) post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House.
Donald De La Haye Photo
Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicos, April 19, 2024 – In an attempt to move to 24-hour-a-day operations Turks and Caicos Islands Airports Authority (TCIAA) is steadily recruiting Air Traffic Controllers to work at the Providenciales/Howard Hamilton International Airport, according to Godfrey Smith, TCIAA CEO, reporting to the Appropriations Committee.
Speaking on April 8th Smith said a cabinet paper would be sent soon requesting six more Air Traffic Controllers to make round the clock operation at the Provo International possible and to open the airport in Grand Turk till 12 a.m.
Currently, 17 posts are filled and seven are vacant.
Smith was candid with his responses to recent industrial action from ATCs which led to resignations and firings.
“What we have to do is find systems to mitigate such actions and that has to start with filling these jobs, putting people in that want to
work and doing right by people – and we always try to do right by our staff. Persons may not think that we are but we always do – we ain’t pick no fight,” he said in the meetings held at the NJS Francis building ahead of the National Budget Communication.
Smith indicated that recruitment was an issue across the board, ‘we need to find ways to recruit a little bit better’ he told the committee. Also in need of a push was capital spending or projects according to the CEO, who said the agency had ‘not been very good’ at meeting that mark but insisted they had recognized the issue and could do better.
A very important key performance indicator drawn up by the TCIAA is increasing passenger satisfaction at the Howard Hamilton International Airport. For the TCIAA part of this means a 30 percent increase in seating by Q2 of this year.
When queried on if they could even handle this increase the CEO said,
“The fact of the matter is we already have the capacity there. What we need is to make the service a bit better.”
Staff shortages have become such a frustrating issue that the TCIAA is instituting a scholarship program created by Authority Chairman, Selvyn Hawkins
“What the board wants to do is basically allocate $25,000 annually for a scholarship and they’ve approved it already.”
This process would cover tuition and all other costs for one student.
The student would return as a summer intern and other breaks to work at the TCIAA and upon graduation, assume a role at the company.
“We identify a particular skill we need, we go after it and we build capacity that is in a nutshell the nexus of the program,” Smith said.
The Turks and Caicos Islands Airports Authority (TCIAA) is allocated $49 million this financial year; over $20 million goes to salaries.
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