The BVI Electricity Corporation (BVIEC) has attributed the rising cost of electricity in the territory to external factors, particularly the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian Invasion of Ukraine on the global oil market.
BVIEC General Manager Leroy Abraham told 284Media, “coming out of the pandemic, energy is directly correlated to oil and gas, and ultimately when the price of those two commodities goes up, it affects energy costs.”
He added, “At this present time, coming out of the pandemic that has unfortunately driven the cost of oil extremely high, and more recently the geo-political issues which are taking place in Europe between Russia and Ukraine, has spiraled or caused … the price of oil and gas to escalate to record figured that we haven’t seen in well over two decades.”
Abraham said that despite popular opinion of the situation in the Virgin Islands being out of hand, this is something that has unfolded regionally and globally with countries being forced to adapt and electricity companies forced to pass on some of the escalated costs to customers.
Ultimately, however, customers are being urged to take accountability for the autonomy they have to control energy consumption in their households.
Deputy General Manager of BVIEC Symorne Penn said “essentially customers are in control of their electricity consumption and persons have to practice measures that they can reduce their consumption within their homes so that they can likewise see a reduction on their electricity bill”.
Customers are encouraged to be aware of how electricity is being consumed in their homes and to take the necessary measures to mitigate the growing costs within their homes.
“Persons may not know but just turning off a television or appliance doesn’t mean that it is not consuming electricity. There’s what is called idle load… and that means that appliance is still consuming electricity”, said Penn.
She added, “Once you are aware of how the appliances in your home consume electricity then you can employ mitigating measures to reduce your household consumption.”