The Utilities Regulatory Authority (URA) in February 2024 had issued a revised uniform base tariff of 60.75 Vt/kWh for Vanuatu Utilities and Infrastructure Ltd (VUI) to be effective from the month of February 2023 to December 2026, a period of three years. Due to the increasing cost imposed on VUI by the growing number of grid-tied rooftop Solar PV, the URA had also issued a solar connection charge of 45.26 Vt/kWh to be implemented three months from the effective date of the tariff.

The solar connection charge is to account for VUI’s unavoidable costs that excludes fuel costs, for providing backup electricity service to grid tied rooftop solar PV electricity consumers when energy produced by a customer’s solar PV system cannot sufficiently meet the customer’s consumption requirements.

Leading up to the implementation of the solar PV connection charge, the URA, the Government and VUI had considered options based on customers concerns to ensure that VUI’s tariffs for different electricity customer groups remain affordable and accessible to all electricity customers in Luganville whether they have a solar PV system or not and in alignment with Government policy objectives.

VUI in good faith, had requested from the URA to absorb additional demand risk associated with the uptake of grid tied rooftop solar PV customers without a corresponding increase in its Reasonable Return. The URA therefore has made the following revisions to its Commission Decision Determination of Maximum Price for VUI Notice No.9 of 2024:

1. The URA has revised the solar PV connection charge from 26 Vt/kWh to 23 Vt/kWh calculated based on energy consumed by the customer from the power generated from their grid tied solar PV system.
2. The URA has revised the implementation date of the solar PV connection charge to be in July 2024. Customers with grid tied solar PV systems should expect a solar connection charge in their electricity bill every month from August of 2024 onwards
3. The URA has issued the required “Regulatory Safety and Reliability Standards for Grid-Tied Solar PV System Installations and Connection to VUI’s Low Voltage Network”, to ensure that implementation of the grid tied solar rooftop is safe and does not affect service reliability for other electricity consumers.
4. The URA has revised VUI’s tariff adjustment formula for an annual adjustment to provide a partial limited decoupling linked to VUI’s core operational costs ensuring that VUI’s level of service delivery is sustained during demand fluctuation situations that may arise.

The URA would like to highlight that the above revision does not make any changes to VUI’s current effective tariff, and the solar connection charge only applies to customers who have their solar system physically and electrically connected to the VUI electricity grid. To obtain a copy of the revisions made to the Rooftop Solar PV Connection Charge and the Safety and Reliability Standards issued, please visit the URA website at www.ura.gov.vu or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..