St. Lucia Electricity Services Limited (LUCELEC) advises customers that the Fuel Surcharge Cost Adjustment, commonly referred to as the fuel surcharge, applicable to electricity bills for September 2026 is 35.6 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh). The September surcharge reportedly reflects the higher cost of fuel used to generate electricity in August.
The fuel surcharge represents the difference between the current cost of fuel used to generate electricity and the fuel cost already incorporated into the base tariff. Calculated monthly and applied one month after the fuel is purchased, the surcharge on September bills reflects the higher fuel costs incurred in August, when average international oil prices climbed sharply to approximately US$91 per barrel. This was about US$7 higher than the average price recorded in July and was driven by ongoing geopolitical uncertainty and continued disruptions across global energy markets.
LUCELEC has previously advised that fuel hedging forms part of the Company’s strategy to provide greater price stability and help shield customers from short-term fluctuations in fuel costs. LUCELEC believes this approach has helped mitigate the impact of the significant fuel price volatility experienced throughout the year, reducing exposure to sudden spikes in international oil prices.
Managing Director Gilroy Pultie acknowledged that, despite this mitigation, the fuel surcharge has risen to its highest level this year, placing increased financial strain on households and adding to the cost of doing business.
“Approximately 45 per cent of our fuel requirements were hedged from August through to the end of October,” Pultie explained. “This strategy helped moderate the impact of rising fuel prices and provided important cost stability for customers. However, the scale, speed and duration of recent increases in global fuel prices significantly reduced the extent to which those hedges could offset higher fuel costs. As a result, the fuel surcharge exceeded the previous high recorded in May, when it stood at 31 cents,” Pultie explained. “Without the benefit of our fuel hedging programme, the fuel surcharge would have reflected a fuel cost of $15.16 per gallon rather than the $14.87 per gallon paid by the Company. While customers benefited from those measures, no fuel-risk management strategy can eliminate the effects of significant volatility in global energy markets,” he said.
LUCELEC reminds that the fuel surcharge is an adjustment mechanism and does not constitute revenue or profit for the company. The local electricity company says it is committed to managing fuel-price risk through strategic hedging and ongoing market monitoring. However, customers are advised that unless fuel costs decline in the near term and create additional more favourable hedging opportunities, they may continue to experience elevated fuel surcharge levels, including a further increase in October.
“We will continue to pursue every reasonable measure to improve cost stability for customers but must point out that it is going to be challenging to do so at least for October, because of current and consistent high fuel prices,” Pultie said. “Our responsibility is to manage that exposure prudently, communicate honestly and ensure that customers receive the benefit of fuel price reductions if they do arise.”
Over the longer term, reducing Saint Lucia’s exposure to imported fuel will require sustained investment in renewable energy, energy storage, grid modernization, and other reliable generation technologies.
LUCELEC is reportedly advancing the proposed 10-megawatt solar farm with integrated battery storage at Troumassee as part of its generation-expansion strategy. The Company is said to be targeting at least 15% of its generation mix from renewable energy by 2030, increasing to at least 50% by 2035 in keeping with its strategic objectives.
Customer-owned renewable generation also continues to expand. At the end of the second quarter of 2026, 443 customer-owned photovoltaic (PV) systems were connected to the LUCELEC grid, compared to 411 at the end of the first quarter.