FIDEL CASTRO RUZ, President of the Council of State
and the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Cuba

LET IT BE KNOWN THAT:

CONSIDERING that since 1970 oil prices have increased from US $1.80 to more than US $50.00 per barrel as a consequence of absurd expenditure policies implemented by consumer societies which have caused an unstoppable and unsustainable worldwide depletion of oil supplies;

CONSIDERING that following the demise of the socialist countries and the USSR late in 1991 our country faced a thorough special period and abruptly stopped receiving 14 million tons of oil per year at a time when domestic production amounted to only 500,000 tons per year;

CONSIDERING that Cuba‚s largest share of oil goes to electric power production, and in the last few years despite its costs having multiplied several times, electricity prices have remained unchanged;

CONSIDERING that the world‚s proven and probable oil and gas reserves are inexorably decreasing while consumption and environmental pollution rates are steadily growing and climate changes are endangering life on Earth;

CONSIDERING that unless new, more sustainable and efficient energy sources are developed and used rationally and optimally in every country, power saving becomes the prime economic and moral duty of today‚s societies and their governments at this moment;

CONSIDERING that the citizens of our country are obviously unconcerned about electricity consumption due to its very low prices;

CONSIDERING as well that there are big income disparities between those who receive relatively low pensions and salaries and those who benefit from large monetary income resulting from speculation, diversion of resources and other forms of unlawful enrichment;

CONSIDERING that electricity prices in the present circumstances and while a strict policy is developed regarding the optimal use of any form of power, together with a continuous search for more efficient techniques and means for its application, the first step to that end must encourage low power consumption by those who save and discourage excess power consumption by those who waste, whatever their economic and social status;

CONSIDERING that our Party and our Government have strongly emphasized the principle that Cuba‚s Socialist State must promote the progressive growth of the material well-being of all citizens who live on their salaries and the pensions they have deserved after a lifetime of working for the benefit of society;

CONSIDERING that on the basis of this just and essential principle, a number of measures to raise wages and social security assistance have been implemented in the present year 2005 and others of similar nature are still pending, similarly in favor of hundreds of thousands of workers who are yet to benefit directly from some of them;

By using the power bestowed upon me by the Constitution of the Republic, as President of the Council of State and the Council of Ministers of Cuba, it is my duty to enact the following

DECREE

FIRST: The prices to be charged for domestic power consumption are as follows:

For a monthly consumption of the first 100 kilowatt/hour it remains unchanged at the highly subsidized rate of 9 cents per kilowatt/hour.

For a monthly consumption of over 100 and up to 150 kilowatt/hour, excess consumption is raised from 20 to 30 cents per kilowatt/hour.

For a monthly consumption of over 150 and up to 200 kilowatt/hour, excess consumption is raised from 20 to 40 cents per kilowatt/hour.

For a monthly consumption of over 200 and up to 250 kilowatt/hour, excess consumption is raised from 20 to 60 cents per kilowatt/hour.

For a monthly consumption of over 250 and up to 300 kilowatt/hour, excess consumption is raised from 20 to 80 cents per kilowatt/hour.

For a monthly consumption of over 300 kilowatt/hour, excess consumption is raised from 30 cents to 1.30 pesos per kilowatt/hour.

SECOND: The prices established as per the present Decree will come into effect in December and start to be charged in January 2006.

Any attempt to evade or forge the values recorded by power meters or use power in a fraudulent way will call for rigorous measures that might even include suspension of service.

THIRD: The Executive Committee of the Council of Ministers and the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, conformant with this Decree that contains the first legal measure in the vital and decisive struggle for power saving, will proceed to implement pending raises in wages and its related additional improvements to gradually increase the lowest benefits of social security and assistance.

FOURTH: All legal or lower level provisions opposing the stipulations of the present Decree are hereby declared null and void.
LET IT BE PUBLISHED in the Gaceta Oficial.

GIVEN in the Palacio de la Revolución on November 22, 2005,
YEAR OF THE BOLIVARIAN ALTERNATIVE FOR THE AMERICAS.

Fidel Castro Ruz
President of the Council of State
and the Council of Ministers

(http://canadiandimension.com) November 29th, 2005