The NV GEBE fuel clause, explained
Most of the month-to-month movement on a Sint Maarten electricity bill is not the base rate — it is the fuel clause. This guide covers how the clause is calculated, why it arrives retroactively, what Caribbean fuel logistics add on top of the world oil price, and how to verify the number that lands on your own bill.
What the fuel clause actually is
NV GEBE generates electricity by burning heavy fuel oil and diesel at Cay Bay. The base kWh rate covers the tariff-approved cost of running the utility; the fuel clause (brandstofclausule) is a separate per-kWh pass-through that recovers what the fuel itself cost. Two households using identical kWh in different months can pay materially different totals purely because the clause moved.
Because it is a pass-through, the clause is meant to be arithmetic, not discretion: rate × kWh, disclosed on the bill. That makes it the single most auditable line on the invoice — and the line where variances are most worth catching.
A short history of the fuel clause
Sint Maarten has never had domestic fuel. From the earliest days of the island's electricity utility — the GEBE founded in 1922, later NV GEBE — power has been generated by burning imported oil, and the tariff framework has always separated the fixed cost of running the utility from the volatile cost of the fuel itself. The fuel clause is that separation made visible: a pass-through mechanism that moves the fuel cost through to the bill instead of burying it in a rate that would have to be re-set every time the world market moved.
For most of its history the clause was a small, quiet line. That changed with the 2021–2022 global energy-price shock: as oil prices surged after the pandemic recovery and the war in Ukraine, the clause passed the full increase through to households within a cycle or two, and for many families it briefly became the largest single component of the bill. That period is what turned an obscure tariff mechanism into a household word on the island — and what made verifying it worth an app.
Oversight sits with the Ministry of TEATT, with the Bureau Telecommunications and Post (BTP) as regulator, and the fuel-price components that feed the clause — freight, throughput and storage at the Sol terminal, wholesaler and retailer margins, import duty and turnover tax — are set by national decree and published in the Official Gazette (Afkondigingsblad). Every one of those figures is therefore a matter of public record: a resident can read the same numbers the utility uses, which is the entire premise of utility transparency.
How it is calculated
The rate itself is derived from the utility's weighted landed fuel cost for the delivery cycle divided by the net kWh sent out to the grid. Line losses matter here: fuel is burned for every kWh generated, but the clause is recovered only on the kWh billed, so a higher loss factor raises the per-kWh clause even when fuel prices are flat.
Meter Mate never lets a language model do this arithmetic. Optical recognition only extracts the printed figures; a deterministic engine recomputes rate × kWh and flags the variance against the amount charged.
Why it is retroactive — the ~30-day lag
Fuel must be purchased, shipped, discharged, stored and burned before it can be billed. The clause on the invoice in your hand therefore reflects the previous cycle's landed cost — in practice roughly a 30-day lag, sometimes longer when a cargo slips.
Two practical consequences: a spike in world oil prices reaches your bill about a month after the headlines, and a crash takes just as long to give relief. Comparing your bill against today's oil price will always look wrong; comparing it against last cycle's landed cost is the honest test.
Caribbean logistics: Sol, freight and TEATT margins
Throughput fee NAf 0.080 per litre · Confirmed
Source: NAf 0.080/L in published fuel price regulations 2017–2023 (sintmaartengov.org)
Sint Maarten does not buy oil at the WTI or Brent screen price. Fuel arrives through regional terminal infrastructure (Sol) and carries freight, insurance, terminal handling, storage and demurrage, plus the distribution margins and levies set within the TEATT framework.
Those layers are largely fixed per barrel, which produces the asymmetry islanders feel: when the benchmark rises the clause tracks it closely, and when the benchmark falls the fixed layers cushion the decline. It is also why a small island clause can look high relative to the raw commodity trend without anything being wrong — and why the more meaningful comparison is against Meter Mate's estimated landed cost, not against a screen price. That estimate is Meter Mate's own model, not a figure NV GEBE, TEATT or BTP has published or confirmed.
Domestic potable water: the clause should be zero
A fuel-clause line billed against a domestic (residential) potable-water account is not a valid pass-through. Meter Mate's engine normalises every label variant — residential, domestic, household, drinkwater, potable water — and rejects that row, reporting the amount as recoverable. Commercial water accounts and all electricity accounts do legally carry the clause.
Reading the trend on your own bills
One bill tells you a total. Six bills tell you a trend. Track the fuel-clause rate per kWh across cycles rather than the amount charged — the amount blends rate movement with your own consumption, so it hides what the utility is doing. A rate line that climbs while your kWh falls is the pattern worth escalating.
Keep the invoices. A dated, hash-sealed series of bills is the difference between a complaint and a dispute record.
Last 12 months
Fuel clause calendar
Green months come from a published figure with its source. Amber months are only what at least three households typed off their own bills — useful as a signal, not proof. Empty months stay empty: Meter Mate never guesses a rate.
Frequently asked questions
What is the fuel clause on an NV GEBE bill?
The fuel clause (brandstofclausule) is a per-kWh pass-through charge that recovers the cost of the heavy fuel oil and diesel NV GEBE burned to generate the electricity you used. It sits on top of the base kWh rate and moves month to month, while the base rate stays fixed for long periods.
Why is the fuel clause retroactive?
Fuel is bought, delivered and burned before the utility can invoice for it. The clause on your bill therefore reflects landed fuel costs from the previous delivery cycle — typically a lag of about 30 days — so a spike in world oil prices shows up on the bill you receive roughly a month later.
Does the fuel clause apply to potable water?
Not for domestic (residential) water accounts. Meter Mate's audit engine rejects any fuel-clause line billed against a domestic potable-water account and reports it as a recoverable amount. Commercial water and all electricity accounts do carry the clause.
Why is Sint Maarten's fuel clause higher than the raw oil price implies?
The island pays a landed cost, not a benchmark cost. Between the WTI/Brent screen price and the fuel that reaches the Cay Bay plant sit freight, insurance, terminal handling and storage through the Sol terminal, plus TEATT-approved margins and levies. Those layers are relatively fixed, so they cushion the fall when oil drops and stack on top when it rises.
How do I check whether my fuel clause was billed correctly?
Take the fuel-clause rate printed on your bill, multiply it by the kWh consumed for the period, and compare the result with the fuel-clause amount charged. Meter Mate does this arithmetic deterministically from a photo of the bill — no figure depends on an AI guess. Comparing the billed rate against Meter Mate's estimated landed-cost model is a separate step: that model is Meter Mate's own estimate, not a figure NV GEBE or TEATT has confirmed.
When was the fuel clause introduced?
A fuel-cost pass-through has been part of Sint Maarten's electricity tariff framework for decades, long before the country status of 10-10-10. It exists because an island utility that burns imported oil cannot absorb world-market swings inside a fixed base rate. What has changed over the years is the size of the clause: for most of its history it was a minor line; after the 2021–2022 global energy-price shock it became the largest moving part of the household bill.
Who sets the fuel clause?
The clause rate follows from NV GEBE's actual landed fuel costs under the tariff framework, within oversight of the Ministry of TEATT and the Bureau Telecommunications and Post (BTP). The fuel-price components that feed it — freight, throughput and storage at the Sol terminal, wholesaler and retailer margins, import duty and turnover tax — are set by national decree and published in the Official Gazette.
Where are the official figures published?
Fuel and tariff figures are published as decrees in the Official Gazette of Sint Maarten (Landsbesluit / Afkondigingsblad). Meter Mate's daily Gazette watcher flags any new decree that changes those figures, and the published monthly figures screen shows the numbers currently in force with their effective dates.