Cabinet to Expand GST Exemption for Residential Electricity Bills

Minister Chebat’s apology comes on the heels of Cabinet’s decision on the expansion of GST exemptions.  Cabinet approved an expansion of the General Sales Tax exemption on residential electricity bills, increasing the qualifying threshold from one hundred dollars to two hundred dollars. Minister of Public Utilities Michel Chebat says the decision was taken during Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting as part of the Government’s effort to provide targeted relief to households facing rising living expenses.

Michel Chebat, Minister of Public Utilities: “On Wednesday government has agreed to move the GST threshold. It is right now at $100 per month so anybody consuming up to $100 per month do not pay GST. Government has decided we’re going to move that to $200. So we’re expecting that that would have a positive impact on about 91,000 residential customers. Part of the discussions I had with BEL today is exactly to understand how quickly that can be implemented and I believe that in the next cycle which I believe comes out around the 14th of this month or so we should be seeing that implemented.”

The GST further exemption expands the existing benefit where residential electricity bills of one hundred dollars or less are already exempt from GST.  Currently, in addition to that exemption, qualifying low-income households registered under the Social Rate category also do not pay the tax on their electricity bills.