Base electricity rates will fall in January following a Tariff Review… and both BELCO and the RA want credit
Electricity bills are set to drop in January – and both the RA and BELCO are looking to take credit.
The Regulatory Authority today announced their Retail Tariff Review, in which they approved that BELCO receive a rate of return of 7.85% in 2026 – lower than the 9.86% r-o-r that BELCO had requested, but slightly higher than the 7.79% r-o-r they approved last year.
It’s also the fourth year that BELCO’s rate-of-return has been increased incrementally since it was dropped to 7.16% in 2022, following highs of 7.5% and 8% in 2021 and 2020.
The 2026 Retail Tariff Review sets BELCO’s allowed revenue at $236.9 Million dollars – $16.8 million lower than BELCO had proposed. Purely in dollar terms, it’s the lowest BELCO has been permitted to earn since 2023 – about 40 million lower than the company was allowed to generate in 2025.
The RA reports that as a result of their Review, base electricity rates will decrease by 10.5% beginning 1 January 2026, with the overall retail rate decreasing by an average of 7.6% for customers.
While BELCO had applied for a higher allowed revenue, the RA concluded that many of BELCO’s projects were prudent, cost-effective, and provided benefit to customers. However, the RA noted that “a significant number of BELCO’s proposed capital budget justifications did not provide evidence of these combined attributes and therefore non-critical projects were rejected.”
BELCO affirmed the rate drop in a press release today, stating that base residential rates will decrease on the 1st of January, which BELCO states could, after the prompt-pay discount, strip around $20-dollars off a monthly bill for the average residential household whose consumption is 650-kilowatt hours per meter reading cycle.
A bill for a low-usage residential household, consumption 200-kilowatt hours per meter reading cycle, could drop more than $5 dollars per month after discount, and a high-usage residential household, consumption 1,500-kilowatt hours per meter reading cycle, could see a decrease of $68-dollars to a monthly bill, after discount.
The new residential rates, which will have a reduction from 1.5 cents to 5.6 cents per kilowatt hour depending on the consumption block, are available at BELCO.bm. The Fuel Adjustment Rate (FAR), which is set quarterly, will remain at 13.799₵ per kilowatt hour in Quarter 1 2026.
BELCO President Wayne Caines said, “over the past year, we have undertaken a comprehensive review of our operations at BELCO to identify opportunities for greater efficiency and cost savings that benefit our customers. These efforts have enabled us to achieve operational improvements that are being passed on to our customers”.
Media Statement from the Regulatory Authority:
The RA has completed its 2026/2027 Retail Tariff Review, confirming that electricity rates will decrease for all customer classes beginning 1 January 2026. Base rates will fall by 10.5 percent, with the average overall retail rate decreasing by approximately 7.6 percent.
Following an established regulatory methodology, the RA approved an Allowed Revenue of roughly BMD $237 million for 2026, which is approximately $17 million lower than BELCO’s request. This outcome reflects updated cost information, efficiency assessments, and higher-than-forecast electricity sales, all evaluated through the RA’s standard analytical framework.
An entrenched and thorough methodological process is utilised each year by the RA to ensure that BELCO’s Allowed Revenue reflects the efficient and transparent cost of providing service. The 2026 review follows this approach, resulting in a determination grounded in data, rigorous analysis, and the RA’s commitment to fairness and accountability.
The full Retail Tariff Review decision, including detailed analysis and bill-impact scenarios, is published on the RA’s website www.ra.bm.
