The government and Tonga Power Limited have agreed an emergency package of measures to ensure vulnerable people do not get cut off amid the Covid-19 outbreak.
The sole electricity provider said there was a drop in diesel rates from $1.6906 per litre in October 2019 to $1.5091 per litre in March 2020.
The new electricity tariff rate of 73 sēniti per kWh was approved by the Electricity Commission to be effective from 1 April 2020.
It said the new published rate for all electricity will reduce by a total of 10.16 sēniti (12.2%) per kwh to 73 sēniti per kwh from the current tariff of 83.16 sēniti per kWh set back in 1 November 2019.
“The accumulated price reduction from October 2019 to 15 March 2020 is driven mainly by the ongoing price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia since 8 March 2020 and the current economic impact of the World wide COVID-19 pandemic,” a statement said.
The tariff set back in November 2019 of 83.16 seniti per kWh was subsidised by the government of Tonga (shareholder) to remain at 79.90 senit per kWh up to March 2020, it said.
