FIJIANS, especially those who don’t earn a stable income will be hit hard if the electricity tariff increases.
Former attorney-general and minister for finance Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said the increase would have a very serious impact on the Fijian economy.
“Moreso it will have a very negative impact on ordinary Fijians in particular those who do not earn a stable income, those on social welfare, those in the informal sector, those who are poor and or are working class and those who are already finding it difficult to make ends meet,” he said.
“While those in the minority who support the increase or through their silence tacitly support the increase, argue that the increase will not affect those households which use less electricity, what they forget or fail to disclose is that the electricity rate from the available scant reports will increase as high as 37 per cent for certain businesses.
“What is understood is that the 25 per cent increase is the average rate.”
In his social media post, Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said when businesses get socked with such a sudden high increase, they will not absorb the cost themselves and will pass it on to the consumers.
“So, goods, including food, these businesses sell, the services they sell, the hotel rooms that they sell will all increase in price. It will have to because restaurants, supermarkets, hotels (which are connected to the EFL grid) all use electricity and it will significantly increase their operational costs.
“It will also have an impact on the price of our Fijian manufactured, tailored, processed and produced goods bound for export, which could make it uncompetitive in a highly competitive global market.”
And if exports decline, he said jobs would also be affected.
Questions have been sent to the Fijian Consumer Commerce Commission.
‘Tariff increase to raise prices’
IF the electricity tariff is increased, even price-controlled items will increase in price, especially those made, cooked, processed, packaged and manufactured in Fiji.
Former attorney-general and finance minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, in his social media post, said businesses that sell price-controlled items will apply to the FCCC for an increase in price because their input cost, electricity, could have significantly increased in price.
“This will affect basic food and everyday essential items. More burden on the ordinary Fijian.
Even small retail stores will be affected, as it is, they are already struggling with their margins and slow turnover,” he said.
“However, all of this can be avoided and indeed the announcement of the 25 per cent (increase) could have been avoided in the first place if FCCC had the right competencies and if they followed their own laid out processes.
“By way of background the last increase approved for EFL was in 2019 (some six years ago) when the electricity cost for the consumers increased by about 2.74 per cent.”
In 2023, he said EFL applied for an increase but after public consultations, which included the publication of the EFL application and applying FCCC’s Electricity Tariff Methodology, the EFL application for an increase was rejected by FCCC.
FCCC claim ‘flawed’
FIJIAN Competition and Consumer Commission’s (FCCC) referral to the 2023 consultation as a leeway to increase tariff this year is an act of hypocrisy and of grave concern.
Former attorney-general and finance minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum described this referral as ‘flawed’.
“The recent position advanced in 2025, that public consultation was unnecessary because consultation had already occurred in 2023 and that the 2025 determination was merely a continuation of the earlier application, is flawed and this position taken by FCCC should be of grave concern to all,” he said.
“The fact of the matter is that the 2023 tariff application was formally rejected. Once rejected, that application ceased to have any further legal or procedural standing.
“To rely on consultations conducted in 2023 to justify a tariff increase in 2025, after the rejection of the 2023 application and the obvious lapse in time, undermines the very logic of consultation and FCCC’s very own laid out processes.”
Economic conditions, cost-of-living, business environment, household affordability in 2025 and capital investments by EFL, he said, were materially different from those in existence in 2023.
“Treating prior consultations as applicable and ignoring current risks reduces public engagement to a box-ticking exercise rather than the substantive safeguard the methodology intended.”
The FCCC in a statement released earlier this week said a 21-day public consultation would now take place following the suspension of the increase scheduled for January 1, 2026.
However, details of the consultation would be made known soon.
