Submission to the FCCC against EFL

Fiji Labour Party (FLP) rejects the changes as proposed by Energy Fiji Limited (EFL) to the current electricity tariff structure.

EFL is a state owned and monopoly enterprise that provides an essential service to the people of Fiji. Chugoku Electric (Japanese publicly listed power company) and JBIC (Japanese Government owned bank) own 44% of EFL, while account holders and the Fijian government own the remaining shares.

The independent regulator for the electricity sector is the Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission (regulator) who is responsible to the Minister for Public Works, Transport and Meteorological Services - Hon. Ro Filipe Tuisawau (minister). EFL is and has been a viable and profitable enterprise. The regulator and the minister, therefore, play a vital role to ensure that the interests and wellbeing of the people of Fiji are upheld, and in particular those of low income and of rural areas as per s6.(3)(a)(i), s6.(4) and s6.(5) of The Electricity Act 2017 (Act).

The affordability of electricity to the consumer must not be compromised. This is also representative of EFL’s mission statement: “We aim to provide clean and affordable energy solutions for Fiji with at least 90% of the energy requirements through renewable sources by 2035” (EFL 2023b). Fiji currently has a respectable renewable energy output “… more than 50% of EFL’s electricity sources already generated by renewables” (EFL 2023a, p. 12). Furthermore, the regulator and the minister must also ensure that corporate interests do not take preference over EFL’s responsibility, as a state-owned monopoly provider of energy, to facilitate economic progress and align its strategies with the government’s macroeconomic ideals of low inflation and high productivity.

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