CUC price rise not spiking

CUC is inevitably putting up its prices, but the reassuring news is that it claims that the increase is not substantial. Because of the huge rise in the cost of living last year, CUC received approval last June from the Utility Regulation and Competition Office (OfReg) to defer base rate increases for all customers.

During the latter part of 2022, CUC announced a Fuel Cost Relief Programme approved by OfReg which provided relief to all customers. According to the Cayman Islands Economics and Statistics Office, the roll-out of the Cayman Islands Government Relief programme reduced inflation by 2% to 7.5% in the third quarter of last year.

In the announcement of its Fuel Relief Programme four months ago, customers were notified that a portion of the fuel factor rate was deferred in an effort to move those costs to months when cooler weather led to lower electricity consumption.

The programme ended on 31 December 2022.  Since January, the fuel factor is now less than CI$0.20 per kWh. The encouraging news is that for the

average residential customer who uses 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per month, they will see an increase in their bill of around CI$5.31 per month via the facilities charge and energy charge line items.  Fuel calculations are amended monthly to reflect current market rates.

As always, customers can minimize the impact on their bills by conserving how much energy they use on a daily basis. For those who have not yet done so, they can sign into the MYCUC portal and use Customer Connect to monitor their consumption.