Electricity price unit down but standing charge rises
Water rate up 90p a month for average consumer
Sewerage charge up £3.85 a month for average consumer
Householders face rising water and sewage charges.
The Manx Utilities Authority announced price changes for electricity and water today.
From April 1:
· There will be a 2.3 per cent increase in the water rate to 321.19p in the pound, based on Manx inflation to December.
· Unit electricity prices for domestic users will reduce from 16.25ppu (pence per unit) to 16ppu.
We are doing our very best to keep prices at affordable levels
Alfred Cannan MHK, chairman of Manx Utilities
· Commercial customers will see unit charges from 16.75ppu to 16.00ppu.
· Domestic and commercial customers using electricity as their primary form of heating will see further reductions in their off-peak unit charges to 7ppu.
· Extension of the sustainable generation tariff to industrial customers who wish to install their own green generation systems (such as microwind turbine or photovoltaic) and will receive a competitive unit rate of 8.75ppu for all generation that is exported to the grid.
The revised charges are likely to represent about monthly increases of 85p to the average residential consumer’s electricity bill, 90p to the water rate for a residential customer and £3.85 to the sewerage rate for a residential customer.
MUA chairman Alfred Cannan MHK annunced the reduction in electricity tariffs and the increase in the standing charge in the House of Keys this morning.
Bill Malarkey (Douglas South) said the price increase would hit those who could least afford it. He said: ‘Those who suffer most are those who use the least.’
Mr Cannan said Mr Malarkey had voted for last week’s budget which had resulted in £5m of extra costs for the MUA including £2.8m of loan charges, £1m of pension costs and the removal of £1m of sewerage grant support.
In a statement Mr Cannan said: ‘I am well aware of the financial pressures that exist for many consumers on the Isle of Man and we are doing our very best to keep prices at affordable levels. As many of our customers know we have high debt servicing costs from previous capital investments and a prudent gas hedging strategy.
‘We are monitoring very carefully the impact of falling commodity prices particularly in relation to gas and oil prices on the business and I hope this can be reflected in future tariff structures where practical and economically feasible.’
He told the Keys that the MUA was increasing the standing charge to better reflect the cost of providing metering services, estimated at £150 a year per customer. He said the charges was still significantly below those of other utilities.
The original flat-rate toilet tax was replaced with a sewerage charge, based on ratable values, after an Isle of Man Newspapers campaign.
The electricity and water prices rises come after Manx Gas announced price changes that saw many people lose out, although prices were subsequently cut.
Source : IOM Today
