ANGLEC NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday June 22nd, 2022
The Anguilla Electricity Company Ltd. ANGLEC advises the public of efforts to respond to the hyperinflation of fuel prices that are challenging global markets. ANGLEC, like many companies worldwide, is struggling to survive under the surmounting pressures of fuel costs. Due to ongoing world events, many countries are facing increasingly high fuel costs for the first time in history. These costs affect industries like shipping and gasoline, with diesel prices at the pump in Anguilla now, E.C. $20.39 – the highest price it has ever been. And while the ANGLEC fuel surcharge is also at the highest it has ever been, it needs to be much higher to sustain service at this time. The unfortunate truth is that Anguilla’s companies have no control of the market prices, as the world market makes price determinations far before our consumption. The fuel surcharge that customers are paying ANGLEC today is E.C.$0.45 per kilowatthour. Based on the fuel price today, Wednesday 22 June 2022, the fuel surcharge should be E.C. E.C.$1.23 per kilowatt-hour. ANGLEC is very aware of the economic challenges we are facing in Anguilla and is actively working very hard to avoid an increase in fuel surcharge.
While this is the goal, there can be no guarantees that ANGLEC can prevent an increase if the current costs do not decrease. However, leadership at ANGLEC is looking into creative ways to cut internal costs and sustain an effective service distribution in these difficult circumstances. Electricity companies worldwide, still heavily dependent on fossil fuel as the source of power production, are forced to increase the electricity rate significantly. Just last week, a power company in the region announced a rate increase of 39%. Another challenge confronting fuel suppliers is the availability of diesel fuel. Some suppliers have had to rely on lower-quality fuel still at highly unprecedented prices. Hyperinflation challenges facing the world are believed to be primarily brought on by the Russia-Ukraine War and the supply chain disruption resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic. These two events have created a perfect storm for shortages and increased costs within many industries. One cost-saving measure ANGLEC has employed in response to this period of hyperinflation is a hold on all non-essential expenditures with immediate effect. The management team will continue to take steps to lower company expenses wherever possible. The company must also aggressively pursue the collection of all outstanding debt. Some structural changes within the organization are also in progress, all in an effort to achieve greater organizational efficiency.
These steps are necessary to minimize the need to adjust ANGLEC’s service offering or financially affect consumers. ANGLEC’s senior management team conveyed that “the staff of ANGLEC are aware of the ongoing challenges that we are facing and have been assured that there will be no job losses as a cost-saving measure. However, a higher level of productivity is expected of them as teamwork and commitment to delivering reliable electricity is our focus. As a company, we must plan our way out of this crisis through strategy and repositioning the company for survival in the first instance, with growth being the ultimate goal.”
To this end, ANGLEC is committed to immediately taking steps to migrate to using renewable energy as part of its energy source once again. ANGLEC intends to rebuild its Solar Farm bigger and better with resilience in mind. Several measures have already been taken to realize this goal in the near future. Over the next few weeks, ANGLEC intends to engage with Government to put an aggressive and expeditious plan in place for Anguilla to have a less expensive, more reliable, and cost predictable supply of electricity.
