Cayman’s sole electricity provider, Caribbean Utilities Co, announced its net earnings for the first quarter of 2021 and they were down over the same period last year. For the quarter ending 31st March 2021, net earnings were $3.3 million, decreasing $0.5 million over the same quarter’s earnings in 2020.
The decrease in net earnings was mainly due to higher general and administration and depreciation costs, which were partially offset by higher electricity sales revenues and lower finance charges, they said. After the adjustment for dividends on the preference shares of the Company, earnings on Class A
Ordinary Shares for Q1 2021 were $3.2 million or $0.09 per Class A Ordinary Share, compared to earnings on Class A Ordinary Shares of $3.7 million, or $0.11 per Class A Ordinary Share forQ1 2020.
Electricity sales revenues were up for the first quarter of 2021, at $21.4 million, which was an increase of $0.2 million when compared to sales revenues for the first quarter of 2020. The reason for the increase was due to a 6.6% base rate increase which took effect on 1st June 2020 which was partially offset by a 6% reduction in kilowatt hour sales, CUC advised.
The Covid-19 pandemic, which hit the economy in March 2020, was blamed for a decrease in sales for the first quarter of 2021, which totalled 143.8 million kWh, a decrease of 8.5 million kWh in comparison to 152.3 million kWh for the first quarter of 2020. While the pandemic still takes its grip on the economy, CUC confirmed that they would continue to focus on providing a safe, reliable and sustainable electricity service to its customers.
They also recorded no lost-time injuries during the first three months of 2021 and said that the reliability of service to customers was also still a major focus for the company throughout the pandemic. The Average Service Availability Index, the percentage of time power was available to customers, was 99.97% for the period.
CUC President and CEO, Richard Hew, said he was very pleased that during first quarter of 2021 there were no lost-time injuries or significant recordable safety incidents.
“During the period the company also successfully completed the re-registration of its environmental management system to the ISO 14001 standard. The company is committed to the advancement of renewable energy and continued its discussions with the Utility Regulation and Competition Office to pursue a number of initiatives under the 2017 Integrated Resource Plan,” he said.
Guido Marsupio
08 May, 2021It would have been more correct to say GRAND Cayman's sole electricity provider...
CUC does not operate on the sister islands, where the electricity is provided by Cayman Brac Power and Light.