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
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.