PRICES
Can I have a prepayment meter?
The URA is currently in discussion with a utility to extend a trial project in the Efate concession. Consumers in Malekula and Tanna already have access to prepayment meters. The Authority has published several reports on the topic, which are available on the website. Learn more
How can I reduce my electricity bill?
The URA runs a Public Education Program, and one of the topics is “Managing your electricity consumption” to help consumers understand how to reduce their bill. Learn more
What is included in the price of electricity and water?
The main costs associated with electricity are: fuel (diesel and coconut oil), staff salaries, and infrastructure investments. Learn more
The main costs associated with water are: electricity, treatment chemicals, staff salaries, and infrastructure investments. Learn more
Why does the price of electricity and water change every month?
The prices of electricity and water are automatically changed to take into account fluctuations in fuel and other input costs. This is to ensure that utilities are able to cover their costs in-between tariff reviews every 5 years.
Why do water bills come on a quarterly basis and electricity monthly?
The billing periods are defined in the relevant legislations and concession contracts. Learn more: electricity | water
Does URA set the price of electricity and water services in Vanuatu?
Yes, URA does set the maximum price that a utility can charge for the provision of a regulated service to its customers.
What are the processes involved for setting up a price?
The processes involve for setting up a price are as follow: the utility has to first submit a tariff application to the URA. The URA will review and analyse the application and if needed, may request for additional data. After the analysis the URA will publish its preliminary decisions and undertake a public consultation to obtain comments from the stakeholders and the general public. Comments taken from the consultation will then be used by the Authority to come up with its final decision of the price that the utility will use.
Does Base price and Tariff mean the same thing?
Base Price and tariff are the rates used by the electricity and water utilities to calculate customer bills. Base Price or commonly known as price is the rate that is determined by URA after a tariff review for a utility to use for a certain period (normally five years) and will remain the same throughout that period. Whereas tariff is the actual rate charged to customers and is calculated by inserting the base price into an adjustment formula. Unlike base price, tariff will slightly fluctuate throughout the period taking into account factors such fuel price, inflation rates and others on the adjustment formula.
What is tariff structure?
Tariff structure is an economical practice of applying different tariffs to different customer categories with the goal of ensuring that electricity and water services are affordable to all customers and at the same time ensures that the utilities receives their required revenue to remain operational. An example of tariff structure is where residential customers have a tariff that is different to that of a commercial customer. In fact, residential customers are normally cross subsidized by large or industrial consumers.
Do residential customers receive any forms of subsidies from the government for electricity supply services?
No, Residential customers do not receive any direct subsidies from the government for electricity use. Low users are subsidized by larger electricity users through a URA approved cross subsidy scheme implemented by VUI and UNELCO.
If I want to know more about price setting, can the URA help me?
Yes, the URA has staffs that are in charge of setting the price and they will definitely provide you with a more detail explanation of how the price of a regulated service is determined.
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