Today, the Minister of Home Affairs, the Hon. Alexa N. H. Lightbourne, JP, MP addressed BELCO's recent rate increase announcement.
Minister Lightbourne said, "In May 2025, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued a Ministerial Direction to the Regulatory Authority under the Regulatory Authority Act 2011. That Direction required fairer and more transparent cost allocation and asked the Authority to consider, within its retail tariff review, differentiated tariff classes for customers who rely on the grid fully, partially, or minimally.
"One year later, action has finally arrived. The unbundling of rates is welcome. Every household and business deserves to see what it pays to generate electricity and what it pays to deliver it. That clarity is long overdue.
"Transparency must not arrive with a higher bill attached. The Ministry commissioned its own review, conducted by a reputable research body, of the impact of distributed generation on other customers. Its findings indicate that residential customers have carried a disproportionate share of the system’s fixed costs for years.
"It is notable that, with that evidence in hand, BELCO and the Regulatory Authority have again found it prudent to raise costs on consumers. A correction of a long-standing imbalance should return value to the customers who carried it.
"To the concerns raised by solar providers, Government policy is settled and consistent. Bermuda needs a growing renewable sector and a fair deal for the grid-reliant household that cannot install panels. Charges that reflect how each customer actually uses the grid serve that fairness.
"At the same time, solar customers have contended for years with a feed-in tariff held low by a flawed calculation at the outset. The public cannot be made to carry the cost of poor regulation, or of mistakes that yield higher prices on them. Fair charges and fair compensation must move together."
