Average light bill to increase by over $5

| 10/02/2021 | 51 Comments
Cayman News Service
CUC Power Line Technician at work

(CNS): CUC has confirmed that its delayed rate hike of 6.6% on bills will come into effect this month. Customers can expect to see an increase in an average bill of around CI$5.26, after the increase was cleared in the summer by the regulator but deferred due to COVID-19. The increase includes the rate hike itself and the recovery of cash that customers would have paid without the seven-month deferral. The hike comes into effect in the wake of the annual dividend announced yesterday of 70 cents for shareholders.

President and CEO of CUC, Richard Hew, said it was CUC that had suggested delaying its annual rate increase, as he defended the move now to get back the money.

“We were well aware of the hardships facing many of our customers at the time,” he stated in a press release. “However, it is now critical for the Company to recoup these costs in order to maintain the financial stability of the Company as well as continue to meet the Company’s ongoing obligations to invest in infrastructure and provide a safe, reliable and sustainable electricity service.”

He claimed that CUC’s financial health plays an important role in keeping electricity rates as low as reasonably possible in subsequent annual rate adjustments.

“In 2019, the company spent US$60.6 million in capital expenditure to ensure its infrastructure was expanded and upgraded to meet the reliability and efficiency performance expected from our customers,” Hew added. He said that CUC had temporarily stopped cutting off people’s power supplies and waived payments during the height of the pandemic, as well as helping those customers who were struggling to pay their bills by offering extended payment plans and pre-payment options.

Explaining the breakdown of the price hike, CUC said the average $5.26 increase for a residential customer who uses around 500 kilowatt hours (kWh) per month was split between the actual price increase, representing $3.96, and the COVID-19 recovery cost, which represented the remaining $1.30.

CUC and OfReg had agreed to reduce the current licence and regulatory charge per kWh rate by 59%, from $0.0125 to $0.0051, according to the power company.

CUC Press Release – Base Rate Adjustment, 10 February 2021 (includes a chart of the trending of residential retail rates per kWh over the past two years)


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Comments (51)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    During a period of precipitously declining fuel costs worldwide, Joey’s brother, as CEO, was approved to increase his company’s service fees 6.6%. The actual bill increase will be 7.5% to make up for the 8 months of “relief”. That wasn’t a gift, it was a loan that we must repay within 2 years!

    • Anonymous says:

      You know, because I know absolutely as a matter of fact what you have said isn’t true, I am reminded of Welch’s comments during the McCarthy witch-hunt trial “Until this moment…, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness…Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?”

  2. Anonymous says:

    Why dont more Caymanians buy shares in C U C ? Sad to make Bermudians buy them up

    • Anonymous says:

      Because you need a minimum $50,000 USD in your account before CNB/Cayman Securities will let you buy shares.

      • Anonymous says:

        Pool together then!

      • Anonymous says:

        @11:43 you can open a share purchase plan account directly with CUC to puchase shares. Shares are bought quaterly and held with them until you wish to sell them at which time they will issue you a share certificate. So one could purchase shares in small amounts over a period of time and then when you accumulate 50k value in shares you can take the certificate to CNB and open your account then. Only requirement is you have to have a CUC bill in your name.

      • Hafoo says:

        Share options are available to all CUC customers.once you have a service in your name..minimum $25CI.and you get it at a special rate.

    • Anonymous says:

      They have proven to be a good investment

  3. Anonymous says:

    Cost of power here compares well with lots of the developed world and is much cheaper than similar islands and even countries like Germany. If your bills are too high, use less!

    • Anonymous says:

      It doesn’t compare well with the world in its immediate neighborhood. Who cares how much Germans are paying for power?

  4. Demonopolise Power Production in Cayman says:

    Between CUC, OfReg and two dirty dealing fuel companies it’s an unsustainable, exorbitant, far from environmentally friendly, and certainly not as reliable as CUC makes out cluster F@#€ we’re in the middle of.
    This is all just to please and line the pockets of shareholders and all of the above named cartel members.

    • Anonymous says:

      6:28 pm, buy shares in C u C, good for now an better for when you retire, think man, think, don’t just engage your mouth.

      • SSM345 says:

        Difficult to buy extras when the cost of living eats up all your money every single month?

        Maybe if I moved back in with my Mum, got rid of my mortgage, stopped sending my kids to school, didn’t eat, drive, lived in the dark, bathed in the sea, the list goes on…..maybe then I could buy shares.

        Or become an MLA; do F all and collect 30k per month I could buy shares in CUC and do nothing to address the extortion that is but one arm of Cayman’s Mafia.

  5. Anonymous says:

    With Biden now in office, be prepared for your bills to triple in the next year or two as he wages war on energy.

    • Anonymous says:

      I spotted the fake news spreader!!!

      • You did not spot anything says:

        You did not “spot” anything.
        You are just another political hack.
        The Original Poster (OP) made a statement that he or she felt was true and you responded with an ad hominem attack.
        Respond with some facts to rebut the OP and then we will listen.
        Look in the mirror. Emptiness cannot prevail against the slightest breeze.

  6. Anonymous says:

    CUC: Burns diesel. CUC Boss: price increase is to provide sustainable energy.

    Ok champ.

  7. Anonymous says:

    So they delayed their increase and then increased their increase because of the delay, sounds about right.

    • Anonymous says:

      Looks like they were entitled to an specified increase over a period of time and CUC asked to defer the increase during Covid?

  8. Anonymous says:

    I am ok with a slight increase as long as it does not minimize my dividends.

  9. Anonymous says:

    Oh settle down folks and think about all the $5s you waste on Let’s Eat and Bento deliveries. Times can’t be that hard based on the businesses prospering around here.

    • Anonymous says:

      You sound like a trickle down dumb dumb

    • Anonymous says:

      Never used either. Dont assume people spend their hard earned money the way you do.

    • Anonymous says:

      It’s a bit of diversion, I don’t know anyone who uses 500KwH per month. I would guess that an average house will be paying about $200/$300 more per year, and a business will be paying a whole heck more, which we will end up paying when they put up prices.

      • Anonymous says:

        You would need to be using around 2,000-3,000 kWh per month to see about that level of $ increase. The Compass has the average as around 1,000 kWh.

  10. Dottie Parker says:

    Ofreg is an office full of men who failed up and are paid handsomely for continuing to fail.

  11. Anonymous says:

    If you don’t vote out everyone in office right now this won’t ever stop. CUC will be a monopoly and we won’t ever be able to organize energy efficiency over coal.

  12. Anonymous says:

    Who at OFREG is fact checking these statements? 6.6% of $79.69 = $5.26.
    Do you know anyone that is getting a $79.69 CUC bill each month?

    • Anonymous says:

      The CEO os CUC due to their solar power….

    • Anonymous says:

      OFREG do nothing but eat donuts.

    • SHOCKED! says:

      1.28pm You caught them out!, 6.6% is a significant increase, on my $500 monthly bill that comes to $32.50. To gouge us back for the deferred increase on top of this is extortion, it’s not a deferral it was a loan and they deliberately misled us.
      Mr Hew’s press release is outrageous, to claim they need the money back to maintain financial stability is poppycock, for years they have announced record profits and assuredly will continue to do so with the monopolistic deal they have with Government.
      Florida Power and Light the provider of electricity throughout the state actually suspended bills altogether for several months and did NOT ask for the money ba. Shame on CUC and Richard Hew

    • Anonymous says:

      Me in a 2 bed 2 bath apt with great insulation and 24 hr AC.

    • Anonymous says:

      Yes. Me.

  13. Anonymous says:

    Does the below references mean that residents who did not avail themselves of the CUC COVID deferral programme and instead paid their bills on time are being penalized for those that did? How is this fear? Can we sue?

    “The increase includes the rate hike itself and the recovery of cash that customers would have paid without the seven-month deferral”

    “Explaining the breakdown of the price hike, CUC said the average $5.26 increase for a residential customer who uses around 500 kilowatt hours (kWh) per month was split between the actual price increase, representing $3.96, and the COVID-19 recovery cost, which represented the remaining $1.30”

    • Anonymous says:

      They’re talking about the deferral of their guaranteed rate increase, not the deferral of people’s bills.

  14. Anonymous says:

    I reckon if we could persuade idiots to stop driving Honda cars into the poles, the bills would go down 10%.

  15. Anonymous says:

    Who needs sex with the way CUC and our Government f@#%’s us!!

  16. Anonymous says:

    OfReg proudly sponsors CUC’s daylight robbery.

  17. Anonymous says:

    Sorry what does OfReg do again?

  18. Anonymous says:

    So let me see if I got this right. OFREG was formed in the first place to control and regulate rate hikes but now they have approved yet another unjustified rate hike by the CUC monopoly. I swear this place is nuts! CNS can you request a list of the board members and investors in CUC please. Shine the light Wendy!!!

  19. Anonymous says:

    Nothing new here people….move along and continue to expect punches to the gut while we’re down!

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