A Pembroke senior who lives on disability payments and financial assistance says she is in shock over soaring electricity bills that are impossible for her to pay.

Her one-room home on Serpentine Road is within sight of both Belco and the demonstrators who decried rising energy costs last week.

She told The Royal Gazette that she could not bring herself to take part in the protests, which were triggered by Belco’s announcement at the end of September that the Fuel Adjustment Rate was rising by 48 per cent from this month, meaning bills will increase by about 20 per cent.

Requesting to remain anonymous, she said: “Nice does not work, but I didn’t go around there to join them. I’d be afraid of what I might say.”

One bill in particular, reviewed by the Gazette and issued on July 20, shows her electricity charges doubling.

With no outstanding balance, her Belco bill came in at $630.47, with the FAR accounting for $218.47.

The net amount for her previous bill, issued on June 15, came to $315.30, while April and May’s bills were both $186.

Residents who queried what they described as unusually high bills this summer were told by the power company that hot summer weather and air conditioning had ramped up costs.

The woman claimed: “They’re using the AC as an excuse. Mine is good. It’s 9,000 BTU, and I had it power washed last year.”

She said her illness requires modest air conditioning in the cottage, which has a single bathroom and LED lighting.

Even with disability payments covering her rent and prescriptions, plus $150 a month on electricity bills, the woman said she had fallen behind in the past two months and now owed Belco more than $1,000, which was beyond her capacity to pay.

“I don’t know where that’s going to come from,” she said. “I can’t give them my disability payment for this month.

“I can’t work. My disability payment this month is $529. But I need it to cover my other costs.”

The woman, who has lived in the home for seven years, said the increase this summer had been “unbelievable”.

She added that she had asked Belco to inspect its electrical connection to her home but was told the utility only looks at the electricity meters of customers.

Shelly Leman, Belco’s managing director of transmission, distribution and retail, said customers reviewing their bills should check the energy consumption outlined in kilowatt hours.

“For residential customers, a comparison of the current month’s usage with the previous month and the same month last year can be found at the bottom of the bill under Consumption Comparisons.

“When usage is higher, particularly during summer months, the overall net effect is a higher bill.

“Customers with AMI meters can log on to the customer portal at belco.bm and view historical consumption trends as well as drill down into hourly and daily usage patterns to help with these comparisons.”

She said home Belco bills comprised four components: energy charges, facilities charge, fuel adjustment and the fee from the Regulatory Authority of Bermuda, which approves the rates that customers are charged.

“The energy charges associated with a residential customer’s bill are applied via an inclining rate block structure,” she said.

“The first block is charged for usage up to 250kWh at a rate of $0.1370 per kWh, the second block is for usage between 251 and 700kWh and is charged at a rate of $0.2436 per kWh, and the third block is for usage above 700kWh and is charged at a rate of $0.3803 per kWh.

“If a customer used less than 250kWh in one month, and in subsequent months consumed more electricity, pushing them into the second or third blocks, their bill will reflect higher charges for the energy used at higher rates.

“The Fuel Adjustment Rate is another component of customer bills and is reviewed and adjusted every three months as approved by the RA.

“When comparing a current bill with previous bills, it is important to review the difference in the FAR. The FAR is different from Retail Tariffs (or base rates) and base electricity rates have not changed since January 1, 2023.”

Ms Leman directed customers to the Know Your Rate & Bill section on the Belco site.

She added: “If customers are struggling to pay their bill, they can reach out to Belco’s credit and collection team to discuss payment arrangements.”