The board of Reykjavík Energy (OR) decided on Friday to raise the company’s tariffs by 28.5 percent for the average user. The energy bill of a family living in a 130-square-meter house will increase by ISK 2,400 (USD 20, EUR 16) per month or ISK 28,000 (USD 232, EUR 182) per year.
A geothermal power plant in Iceland. Photo by Páll Stefánsson.
According to OR, the impact on the consumer price index will be 0.39 percent, Fréttabladid reports.
The board also provided OR’s CEO with the task of lowering operational expenses by ISK 2 billion (USD 16.6 million, EUR 13 million), or 25 percent.
Chairman of OR Haraldur Flosi Tryggvason said it will probably be necessary to lay off staff and lower salaries to achieve that goal. The sale of assets that aren’t important to the company’s core operations is also being prepared.
Sóley Tómasdóttir, the Left-Green representative on OR’s board, said the board’s decision is poorly prepared, stating that the responsibility of “this highly political project” is to a large extent pushed onto the company’s executives.
Kjartan Magnússon, the Independence Party representative on the board, said in his evaluation OR’s tariffs could have been increased gradually over three to five years to guarantee the company’s ability to pay its debt without burdening the public too much.
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