ELECTRICITY COST FOR SMALL DOMESTIC CONSUMERS IN VANUATU STILL CHEAP

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Vanuatu URA comparative report of 2015 on Pacific Regional Electricity Bills – shows electricity in Vanuatu is still cheap than its regional neighbours

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Too often reports have describe Vanuatu as the most expensive place in the region to do business. However, as shown by the above chart, Vanuatu is in fact the second cheapest place in the pacific region in terms of electricity bills for small domestic consumers – 60kWh/mth 1.1kVA.

The electricity costs for the “small domestic consumers” category in Vanuatu are among the cheapest in the Pacific region, with UNELCO and VUI ranking respectively 2nd and 3rd cheapest out of the 25 utilities in the sample. The typical bill paid for these customers in Vanuatu is VUV 1,098 for UNELCO customers, and VUV 1,207 for VUI customers, based on March 2015 prices. This compares to an average bill of VUV 2,560 for the Pacific area. UNELCO is 58% below the Pacific average, and VUI is 54% below the Pacific average.

The comparison between Vanuatu and the Pacific area shows that a higher proportion of the electricity bill is made up of Government taxes in Vanuatu. This consists of 12.5% VAT charged on all electricity bills, compared to a Pacific average of 4% tax. There are no fixed charges for this particular consumer category in Vanuatu, compared to 10% fixed charges and other fees on average across the Pacific.