Bermuda’s reliance on fossil fuels is largely to blame for a huge hike in household electricity bills, according to environmentalists BEST.The average family’s monthly Belco bill has jumped from $185 to $312 in the space of eight years, an increase of nearly 70 percent.Figures provided by Belco show the fuel adjustment rate, a section of the bill based on world oil prices and determined by the Energy Commission, has soared by nearly 400 percent since 2004, from $33 a month to $128 a month.By comparison, the portion of the bill relating to the household’s use of electricity has gone up only moderately, from $142 to $154 for the average family, a rise of eight percent. The charge for owning a meter, meanwhile, has tripled from $10 a month to $30.Even though Belco froze its own section of the bill two years ago to help families during the economic crisis, the overall cost of the bill has continued to grow, thanks to the fuel adjustment increase.Belco says it has other plans in the pipeline to bring down costs, and has already cut spending by granting early retirement to 26 employees.Reacting to the figures yesterday, Bermuda Environmental Sustainability Taskforce chairman Stuart Hayward said Bermuda must move quickly towards sustainable energy.“While the average 2012 household energy bill is now almost 70 percent higher than in 2004, this is really being driven by the fuel adjustment charge as the base charge by Belco has only increased by 21 percent over the same period,” Mr Hayward told The Royal Gazette.“The fuel adjustment cost has fluctuated by almost 400 percent since 2004 and at present accounts for 41 percent of the total average household energy cost.“This highlights how a reliance on imported fossil fuels is not only associated with present and future negative environmental effects, but also makes our energy costs unpredictable and liable to increase.“Acting now to fully embrace more sustainable energy solutions will help to limit the damaging environmental and health effects associated with fossil fuel use, promote long-term energy security, helping to stabilise energy costs, and allow Bermuda to play a role in limiting climate change.“Several such strategies are discussed in the 2011 Bermuda Energy White Paper and we must now work together to translate this document into tangible, positive action.”Mr Hayward applauded Belco’s new tiered approach to billing, which means families using excessive amounts of energy face a disproportionately high charge.Belco has also raised the amount of energy available to households at the cheapest rate to 250 kilowatt hours.“It makes more sense both intuitively and from an energy conservation standpoint,” said Mr Hayward.“As 250 kWh is roughly the monthly amount required for a couple or small family to achieve a comfortable standard of living, to power lights, fridge, washing machine, basic appliances and conservative hot water use, this new structure should hopefully help to offset the impact of the recent jump in the fuel adjustment cost for those households that most need some kind of offset, while at the same time charging those households that choose to power luxury items that much more.”Responding to Mr Hayward’s comments, Belco spokeswoman Linda Smith said: “Yes it is the cost of fuel that is largely to blame for the hike in overall bills, and Belco agrees with the need to reduce reliance on fossil fuel, particularly fuel oils.“However, renewable energy cannot supply the continuous electricity that Bermuda requires, but it can supplement when wind and sun resources are available. But, this would require a fossil fuel based plant to also continuously be available to run when natural resources are not available.”Regarding bills, Ms Smith said: “In 2011 Belco management and the union agreed wage freezes and overtime rate concessions.“New hires were limited, and Belco offered early retirement to 31 employees, 26 of whom accepted.“Belco also changed its pension plans, moving all employees to a defined contribution plan. Belco is continuing to work to reduce its operating costs, recognising the effect the high cost of fossil fuel oil has on the cost of electricity.“Belco has also identified opportunities to reduce cost to the average customer through a rate restructuring, and overall increase which rewards conservation and would charge higher prices to consumers who use more than average.“Under the newly proposed structure customers with usage of 700 kWh per month would actually see a reduction in their monthly energy bills from a net bill of $280.10 to $269.41, a saving of $10.60 or 3.8 percent.”Ms Smith said the rate restructure application supports the development of a new power station that, once up and running in 2013, would be more efficient than the current ageing plant.That would result in less fuel being used and a $7.5 million cost savings per year which would be passed back to the consumer via the fuel adjustment.The new plant, she said, would also allow for retrofit for alternative fuels, specifically liquefied natural gas in the future, while Belco has made presentations to the Government about alternative possibilities.