The war in Ukraine is affecting the price and availability of fuel around the world. The price of oil has more than doubled as a result. The St. Lucia Electricity Services Limited (LUCELEC) says, despite its fuel-price hedging programme and renewable energy efforts to date, regrettably, the sharp increase in oil prices will result in increases in the fuel surcharge for electricity bills.
LUCELEC Managing Director Trevor Louisy explains, “Through its hedging programme, LUCELEC is able to “lock in” the price it pays for some of its fuel. This means that what the company pays for the percentage hedged remains the same despite the price of oil on the world market. The balance of the fuel purchased is determined by the current market price. As a result, when there are significant changes in the price of oil as is occurring right now because of continued unrest in Ukraine – it will affect the fuel surcharge and what customers pay for electricity on a month-to-month basis.”
Fuel price hedging is one of the strategies the company uses to minimise major fluctuations in what customers pay for electricity monthly.
The price LUCELEC pays for fuel is factored into customer bills through the Fuel Surcharge or the fuel cost adjustment that is applied to the units of electricity customers use every month. It is added to the Basic Energy Rates applied to each unit of electricity LUCELEC sells.
In keeping with reporting requirements, LUCELEC publishes the monthly fuel cost adjustment in the Voice newspaper and to its website (https://www.lucelec.com/content/rates-service-standards) every month.
This current fuel crisis is a very difficult situation, caused by external factors over which LUCELEC has no control. But there is something customers can do and that is – use energy wisely. Given the uncertainty about the duration of this crisis, everyone should take control of their energy usage and avoid waste. Every kilowatt-hour counts. Customers can monitor their monthly electricity usage through the LUCELEC MyAccount service at myaccount.lucelec.com.
In the coming days, LUCELEC will also unveil an Energy Efficiency campaign on radio, television and its social media platforms to provide practical tips to advise customers on how to manage their electricity use.
LUCELEC will continue to monitor the global situation and keep customers up to date on how their electricity bills may be affected. The Company is confident that by working together, the impact of this challenging time may be minimised.