Business
Caribbean Utilities Company, Ltd Announces Deferral of Base Rate Increase to 2021 Due to COVID-19
Caribbean Utilities Company, Ltd Announces Deferral of Base Rate Increase to 2021 Due to C...
About this update from Caribbean Utilities Co. Ltd. Class A
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n\n\nCaribbean Utilities Company, Ltd Announces Deferral of Base Rate Increase to 2021 Due to COVID-19\n\n/* Style Definitions */\nspan.prnews_span\n{\nfont-size:8pt;\nfont-family:\"Arial\";\ncolor:black;\n}\na.prnews_a\n{\ncolor:blue;\n}\nli.prnews_li\n{\nfont-size:8pt;\nfont-family:\"Arial\";\ncolor:black;\n}\np.prnews_p\n{\nfont-size:0.62em;\nfont-family:\"Arial\";\ncolor:black;\nmargin:0in;\n}\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCanada NewsWire\nGRAND CAYMAN, CAYMAN ISLANDS, Aug. 18, 2020\n\n\n\nCARIBBEAN UTILITIES COMPANY, LTD. CLASS A ORDINARY SHARES ARE LISTED FOR TRADING IN UNITED STATES FUNDS ON THE TORONTO STOCK EXCHANGE.\n GRAND CAYMAN, CAYMAN ISLANDS, Aug. 18, 2020 /CNW/ - Caribbean Utilities Company, Ltd. (TSX: CUP.U) (\"CUC\" or \"the Company\") announced that in accordance with the Rate Cap Adjustment Mechanism (\"RCAM\") contained in the Company's Transmission & Distribution (\"T&D\") Licence issued by the Cayman Islands Government in April 2008, CUC was allowed to increase its base rates by 6.6% effective June 1, 2020. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Company and the Cayman Islands Utility Regulation and Competition Office (\"OfReg\") have agreed to defer the rate increase and recovery of related lost revenues until January 2021.   \nAs a result, customers will continue to see low electricity rates through 2020 and only a marginal increase in the energy charge component of their bills for January 2021 electricity consumption billed in early February 2021. With their July billings (distributed in early August), customers would have experienced a 37% reduction in the Fuel Cost Charge since the beginning of the year which represents a $48.60 or 20% monthly bill reduction on the average residential consumption of 1,000 kiloWatt hours(kWh).\nAs per Condition 25 of the T&D Licence, the RCAM is based on a formula, which incorporates readily available external data to determine a relevant Inflation Factor or Price Level Index. This consists of a weighted average of 60% of the change in the Cayman Islands Consumer Price Index (\"CI CPI\") and 40% of the change in the United States of America Consumer Price Index (\"US CPI\"), (with both indices adjusted to remove the effects of prices of food and fuel) as reported by independent authorities for the 2019 calendar year.\nThe Cayman Islands COVID-19 shelter-in-plac...