FEA chief executive Hasmukh Patel blamed the lack of rain and high fuel costs on the company’s looming incapability of providing energy to consumers on Viti Levu.
“There is nothing we can do except wait for the man on top to send us rain,” Patel said.
Fiji Meteorological Service estimates average to below average rainfalls for the months of January to March next year. The prediction for November, the start of the cyclone season, does not look good either.
Energy supply to the nation is 30 percent from hydro and 70 percent from diesel generation.
Patel in a press conference tried to provide light on the power utility’s situation saying the Monasavu Dam was only receiving 0.14 meters of rain per day when it needed 4.5 meters per day.
He added that the dam was seven meters away from reaching critical level. Furthermore, the FEA could not afford the cost of running diesel powered generators.
FEA’s fuel bill for September was $7.2 million. Patel said the price of diesel at $895 a ton was still too high for FEA, it needed the price to come down to $391 a ton.
The company has also approached its top 50 energy users, which is understood to be hoteliers and manufacturers seeking their assistance in using their own generators to supply their energy.
Patel said these companies had been forewarned of this in the previous months. However, he could not reveal how many companies were willing to do this as negotiations were still going on.
But even if these top energy users do decide to use their own generators, it will still not stop power shedding from going ahead.
Patel said they were working on a schedule but it was highly likely that domestic users would be given power in the night while business operators would have power in the day time.
