A New Electricity Tariff in Brunei Darussalam: Welfare Implications for Households

Electricity prices in Brunei are highly subsidized, placing a heavy fiscal burden on the government budget. Prior to 1 January 2012, the primary electricity tariff in the residential sector was based on a Declining Block Tariff structure, and non-poor households enjoyed a disproportionately large share of total electricity subsidies. The government has since implemented a new electricity tariff in the residential sector based on an Increasing Block Tariff. The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the welfare impact for households. It is estimated that about 80 per cent of households benefit from the new tariff, with poor households enjoying a larger percentage gain compared to the old tariff. However, total electricity subsidies remain roughly unchanged under the new tariff; in addition, non-poor households continue to enjoy a substantial proportion of the subsidies. There is still much to be done to tackle the high fiscal costs of subsidies and the problem of distribution distortion.