12-2-05,9:22am
Cuba will take an important step toward a more rational use of energy with the application of a new residential electric consumption rate starting in December. A new yet simple formula will require home users to pay a higher rate for electricity when their monthly consumption surpasses 100 kilowatt-hours (kwh).
The measure aims to encourage the further lowering of consumption by those who already conserve energy and –more importantly– to discourage excess use of electricity by those who squander the service, explained the ordinance announcing the upcoming application of the new rate.
Without a doubt, the price of electricity up to now has been so low that energy was virtually free, a situation that tended to prevent a consciousness of electricity conservation from taking root.
Even with the announced increases though, Cuban homes will continue enjoying readily accessible and cheap electricity thanks to the significant government subsidies; such aid has kept home electric costs low despite the fact that world prices for a barrel of petroleum have risen to more than $50 – up from as low as $8/barrel in 1999.
For the Cuban Electric Union it costs about three Cuban pesos ($.15 USD) for each single kilowatt hour, while the energy supplier sells the first 100 kilowatt-hours for only nine Cuban pesos ($.47 USD).
This change in the rates charged will only moderately affect residential customers, whose costs in Havana average around 150 kilowatt-hours a month; for that same quantity of electricity such households will soon pay about 24 pesos ($1.25 USD), up from 19 pesos.
The new rate will gradually begin to clamp down on those who consume more than 200 kwh, with emphasis being on those who use more than 300 kwh. In these cases consumers will pay 1.30 Cuban pesos ($.07 USD) for each kwh that exceeds the 100 kwh figure.
The public has reacted calmly, with many heard speaking out in support the new rate, knowingly that it is necessary to put an end to waste in the use of electricity and to increase its conservation. The resources that can be obtained by the country along this road will revert in benefits to the whole society.
