BELCO ‘Extremely Pleased’ By RA’s Order
BELCO said they are “extremely pleased” with the publication of the Regulatory Authority’s Order as they can now compensate distributed generation customers “after a lengthy impasse during which BELCO was legally unable to compensate certain distributed generation customers.”
“Once signed contracts are in place with those who do not currently have them, the outstanding compensation, which totals approximately $11,000 overall based on the Authority’s defined feed-in-tariff rate of 17.36 cents per kWh, will be made as soon as possible,” the company said.
The company said, “BELCO is extremely pleased with the publication on 17 August of the Regulatory Authority’s Decision and Order relating to the Standard Contract template.
“The Order followed the Electricity Amendment Act 2018 becoming operative three weeks ago on 30 July, and its publication means that BELCO is now able to compensate all distributed generators for the energy that they distribute to BELCO’s electricity grid.
“We are very pleased to be able to compensate all our distributed generation customers with an amount that is rightfully owed to them after a lengthy impasse during which BELCO was legally unable to compensate certain distributed generation customers”, states BELCO’s Chief Executive Officer, Sean Durfy.
“For over a year, BELCO had been in discussions with the Regulatory Authority and the Government with respect to amending legislative deficiencies within the Electricity Act 2016 including to enable BELCO to legally enter into the Standard Contracts required under the Act and to compensate all customers wishing to engage in distributed generation.”
“At one point, because we were unable to compensate certain customers without contravening the Act, BELCO proposed to the Authority that it would comply with any instructions from the Authority to remit payment to uncompensated customers after the legislative deficiencies were resolved.”
“We were pleased when the legislative deficiencies were resolved by the passing of the Amendment and BELCO subsequently asked the Authority for the further order that was required by the Act before BELCO could pay those distributed generators who were not being compensated. The Order was welcomed by BELCO and was a required step within the overall regulatory process.”
In compliance with the Order, BELCO will today issue the required 30-day notice of the necessary contract amendments for customers with existing contracts and thereafter contact any distributed generators without contracts to ensure speedy execution of the Standard Contract.
Mr. Durfy concluded, “Having received the Order, we are now in the process of reaching out to the impacted customers.
“Once signed contracts are in place with those who do not currently have them, the outstanding compensation, which totals approximately $11,000 overall based on the Authority’s defined feed-in-tariff rate of 17.36 cents per kWh, will be made as soon as possible.”
Of course Belco is happy
They should be paying much more for a feed in tariff. The RA should do more to stimulate Solar generation in Bermuda.
The RA is useless
Not necessarily. The solar panel owners are not paying for ANY of the transmission/distribution costs.
General question:
People/Businesses are feeding electricity into the grid from renewable sources. BELCO sells this energy to customers. Note that BELCO did not burn fuel in its generators to make this energy.
Therefore, shouldn’t consumers notice some decrease in the fuel surcharge item of thier bill proportional to the amount of renewable energy being fed into the grid?
If this is not the case then aren’t we being charged a fuel surcharge for fuel that has not been consumed?
Enquiry minds would like to know.
Ride
The solar input is minimal in comparison to the entire country and the fuel is still being sucked up in spinning reserve. Belco’s battery storage system that will be installing will eliminate spinning reserve.
Are there any statistics on renewable energy being fed into the grid? Would be good to verify the claim that the this is nominal. BELCO surely has this information.
Also, it is my understanding that fuel surcharge is legally based on consumption not fuel burnt to keep the engines warm. This is concerning if my understanding proves correct and your statement proves true.
If BELCO foots the bill to keep the engines warm then it has less profits due to its regulated status. So its investors will put pressure on it to be more fuel efficient. Which might have led to battery banks or some other methods of reducing fuel much earlier.
BELCO should be more transparent. Many still have a bad taste from the fiasco of BELCO giving out years of fat dividends while placing little money aside to refurbish its engines. Then trying to hit us all with a whopping overnight increase to pay for engines because it had no money.
I think the amount of ‘free’ energy Belco receives from customer generation is just a blip compared to what Belco generates itself. The decrease in fuel surcharge wouldn’t be worth the extra keystrokes on the accountants keyboard.
If it is just a “blip” then the RA should seriously consider paying customers a more realistic FIT. If BELCO considers it so nominal, perhaps the RA should increase the rate from $0.17 to $0.40. The $0.17 is a joke, especially when BELCO is earning $0.23 per kWh from those customers producing it by way of selling it to others.
Now focus on outages in Smiths!!!!!
I have solar….. for the energy I feed into the grid I get .17 cents per kilowatt. I buy it for .42 cents per kilowatt from Belco. It’s bull**** and the RA need to change the amount selling for to the amount buying for kilowatt for kilowatt. Any solar produces over that I would be happy if they buy for .17 cents.
Too bad we can’t make up our own BS fees and facility charges and charge it to Belco like they do to us. $0.17 per kwh would be a deal being that we are charged $0.15 kWh (up to 250kwhs) but then all the fees and consumption over 250 kWh sends the final kWh price up to $0.42 which is close to the highest in the world for developed countries.
More importantly how much are you saving by using your own? And with outlay, what does it cost you? Solar has to be the future. Friend in UK had gas company investigating them as they thought they were fiddling with their smart meter. If they can run a 5 bed house, plus ac in summer on their grade of sunshine surely Bermuda should make it a huge cost saver?
I agree. The current FIT in Bermuda is a joke. For example, in Italy, the cost of energy is €0.20 and the FIT is €0.18. RA, do you see the inequality in Bermuda? Please help the Bermudian people more, RA! Lots of work ahead of you.