Residents and businesses across Antigua and Barbuda are bracing for another blow to their monthly utility costs, after the Antigua Public Utilities Authority (APUA) confirmed a 10% increase to its key Fuel Variation Rate set to take effect in October 2026.
The regulatory body has adjusted the rate from $0.80 per kilowatt-hour, a level that held steady through July, August, and September 2026, to a new rate of $0.88 per kWh. As defined by APUA, the Fuel Variation Rate is a pass-through charge that directly tracks volatile international fuel prices, which are the primary input for the island nation’s electricity generation infrastructure.
This upcoming rate adjustment arrives against a backdrop of already steep annual growth in electricity costs, according to official inflation data from Antigua and Barbuda’s National Bureau of Statistics. The agency’s latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report reveals that the national electricity price index jumped 42.9% year-over-year in August 2026, marking electricity as the single category with the largest price increase across all goods and services tracked in the CPI.
Broader energy costs across the economy have also climbed sharply over the same 12-month window. The National Bureau of Statistics’ full Energy Index recorded a 20.6% year-over-year increase, far outpacing the country’s overall headline inflation rate of 5.5% as of August 2026.
For residential and commercial electricity customers, the change means the fuel-related component of their monthly electricity bills will now be calculated using the higher $0.88 per kWh rate starting with October usage, adding further pressure to household budgets already strained by months of rising energy costs.