BELIZE CITY, Thurs. May 3, 2018– Earlier in April, Amandala reported that the Belize Electricity Limited (BEL) had requested a 7.1% increase  in mean electricity rates from the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) for the period from July 1, 2018, to June 30, 2019. We had reported that “BEL explained that the call for an increase in electricity rates is necessary to offset an increase in the cost of power purchased from power producers.”

After reviewing BEL’s application, the PUC approved an increase in rates, but only of 4.4%. While BEL had wanted the current rate of $0.3699 per kilowatt hour to be increased to $0.3954, the PUC has allowed a mean electricity rate of $0.3862 per kilowatt hour. This has been approved for the period from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2020.

This is only an initial decision, and BEL has the choice of challenging it.