ANGLEC has corrected more than 8,000 electricity bills after an error meant government credits were shown but not deducted from customers’ balances.
The power company said the discounts have now been manually applied to all accounts, and the new totals will be displayed on its online payment portal.
Despite originally announcing that it would reissue the bills, in a public notice on 4 September, ANGLEC said that, following a technical review, it had decided decided not to do so.
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“ANGLEC determined that withdrawing and reissuing more than 8,000 bills as originally planned was impractical and would result in a longer correction timeline,” it said.
The government credit was first introduced in March to help reduce the impact of rising fuel costs amid global political tensions.
The contribution brings the fuel charge for residents and eligible business customers down to EC$0.42 per kilowatt hour, while hotels and villas pay $0.65 per kWh.
‘Unexpected’ billing issue
On 3 September, ANGLEC first announced the “unexpected automatic billing issue” affecting all accounts during the generation of bills for August.
“While the government credit is displayed in the pink box at the top of the bill, it was not automatically deducted from the total amount due,” it said at the time.
It added: “Our team is actively working to correct this issue and ensure that the appropriate amounts are applied.”
The company said corrections would be made by 7 September at which point all incorrect bills would be cancelled and reissued – however, that plan was later abandoned.
According to ANGLEC, customers paying directly at a payment window or through the online portal will see and pay the reduced account balance, with the government credit applied.
Meanwhile, those paying through a third party, such as a bank, and relying on the original PDF bill should pay the account balance shown less the government credit displayed in the pink box.
Anyone who has already paid the full account balance shown will receive the government credit on their account to reduce any outstanding or future balance.
Anguilla’s electricity fuel surcharge rose again in August to $1.05 per kWh after falling twice over June and July, from $1.04 at its highest to $0.97 and again to $0.85 per kWh.
“While ANGLEC would have preferred these lower rates to be sustained, global fuel market conditions have since changed,” the company said on 3 September.
Fuel costs are reviewed regularly in accordance with the Electricity (Rates and Charges) Legislation and ire adjusted in response to changes in the underlying cost of fuel.
The Anguilla Electricity Company (ANGLEC) is a publicly traded company in which the government controls the majority of the shares.
