BEL's cost of power is going up sharply but it shouldn't affect your light bill, at least not right now. The company has signed off on a two-year power purchase agreement with CFE in Mexico. Last year BEL purchased almost two-thirds of its power from CFE at a price of 17 cents per kilowatt-hour. But that price was negotiated when oil prices were low and now CFE has sharply increased the purchase price.
Under the new agreement the purchase price now stands at 29 cents per kilowatt-hour, a 59% increase. To make sure that this increase has a minimal effect in its cost of operation, BEL has cut down on the supply it gets from Mexico. Previously it was 25 megawatts, and now it's only 15. To make up the difference, the Fortis owned BEL will now buy more power from the Fortis owned BECOL hydroelectric facilities. Right now BEL gets 60% of its power from BECOL.
And while the BECOL offset is one reason your bill won't go up, another is that, it already did. When BEL got its PUC-approved increase in June it had already factored in an expected 24% increase in the cost of power from Mexico. Only thing is that projection was off, the Mexican cost has gone up 59%.
