The Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) will establish the connection and reconnection rates for electricity and drinking water on Bonaire per July 1st. The connection rates are the rates to be paid by consumers for the construction of a new connection. The reconnection rate is the amount that consumers will have to pay if they wish to be reconnected.
The Electricity and Drinking Water Act BES came into effect on July 1st, 2016. The ACM has the task to establish the rates for electricity and for drinking water. There are four types of rates: the connection rate, the reconnection rate, the fixed and the variable consumption rate. Per July 1st, 2017, the ACM will set two of the four rates: the connection and reconnection rates. The other two, the fixed and variable consumption rates, will be set by the ACM at a later date.
Connection rate
The connection rate depends on the size of the connection capacity. For all connection capacities up to and including 10 kiloVolt Ampère (kVA), the connection fee is USD 2.337,13. The connection rate for drinking water is USD 1.623,03 for the most common connection capacity, namely half an inch (the connection size). The ACM will not set a connection rate for larger capacities, but the costs for that specific connection will be charged to the customer by WEB. The ACM will then monitor the quotations and invoices issued by WEB to ensure that WEB charges a transparent and fair price. If a connection is located at more than 25 meters from the network, WEB is allowed to charge USD 11,24 per additional meter for electricity and USD 53,05 for drinking water.
Reconnection rate
The reconnection rate is the same for all consumers and amounts to USD 40 for both drinking water and electricity. If someone is disconnected (in the event of non-payment or at a person’s own request e.g. when a house is uninhabited for while), a fee of USD 40 will have to be paid to WEB to get reconnected. If reconnection is requested for both facilities, the total fee will amount to USD 80 (2x USD 40).
Fixed and variable consumption rates not yet established
The variable consumption rate is the rate paid by each consumer for the amount of power or water used in a month. That rate is expressed in an amount per kilowatt hour for electricity and in an amount per cubic meter for drinking water. The fixed rate is the amount paid by each consumer per month for the network, regardless of the amount of water or power that is used. The fixed rate depends on the connection capacity of a home or business.
The fixed and variable rates for electricity have not yet been established by ACM because the connection capacity for all individual connections on Bonaire is not (yet) known at WEB. This information is required for ACM to be able to establish the fixed rate. At the moment, WEB is taking inventory of those connection capacities so that the ACM is able to establish the fixed and variable rates for electricity per January 1st , 2018.
The ACM does not yet establish the fixed and variable rates for drinking water because the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment and WEB are in consultation about the impact of the new rate structure on the various groups of consumers. Based on the outcome, the Ministry will decided on any possible additional subsidy.