Chairman,
Board of Directors,
Management and Staff of the FEA;
Various members of the private sector including the South Pacific Stock Exchange;
Ladies and gentlemen, and all of those tuning in to this live broadcast on FBC.

Bula Vinaka and good evening.

This is a very exciting day for Fiji, the Fiji Electricity Authority and for every Fijian, as we take a major stride forward to put the Fijian people at the very forefront of Fiji’s energy sector.

Today, we are officially announcing the successful corporatisation of the FEA, which will now be known as Energy Fiji Limited, Government’s newest commercial company. All FEA customers will now be served by Energy Fiji Limited, or EFL, with effect from this evening of 16 April 2018.

The corporatisation basically means that this new company, Energy Fiji Limited, now has a capital structure and shares which are wholly owned by your Government. And it gives us the opportunity to harness private sector expertise, innovation and efficiency in new ways and accelerate the expansion of clean and renewable energy throughout the country.

Corporatisation doesn’t mean that any contracts or staff of the FEA will be affected. There will be no job losses as a result of this transition and no one will be made worse-off.

What it does mean is this: through this corporatisation, the Fijian Government is now offering five per cent of the total shares in Energy Fiji Limited to EFL customers in the form of non-voting shares, completely for free.

This means that eligible Fijians who are EFL customers will be granted a stake in their energy provider for the very first time, giving them the chance to become a shareholder in a billion-dollar asset company.

Know that once you become a shareholder in EFL, you can get dividends. That means when the company makes a profit, money goes directly into your pocket, because you will be shareholders in the company. Additionally, shareholders of EFL will benefit from any capital appreciation.

So for all FEA customers, your bills will now come under the name of Energy Fiji Limited. And, as long as you were a domestic account holder with FEA as of today and are a Fijian citizen who is residing in Fiji, you will be offered one parcel of shares.

Specifically, we are offering one parcel of 250 shares to those domestic customers, prepaid customers or post-pay customers who receive a subsidy under the Electricity Subsidy Scheme while non-subsidised customers will be offered one parcel of 150 shares.

So we can all be proud that it is low-income households who will be the biggest beneficiaries from this corporatisation, on top of all the other wonderful programmes we have to support these Fijian families, they will now also see the biggest returns as EFL grows and expands in the years ahead.

Of course, we urge everyone who is eligible to take advantage of this free offer and hold onto these shares for yourselves, your families and even for the next generation who can one day inherit them from you.

But should you wish to sell your shares, you can also do so, as we plan to list them on the South Pacific Stock Exchange. When we list EFL on the South Pacific Stock Exchange, shareholders will then be able to buy or sell their shares through the SPSE platform over a period of time.

By now you are probably wondering how to accept this offer.

You can expect to receive an offer letter mailed from EFL with an application form next week, or you can visit the EFL website next week to download an application form. If you cannot access the internet, these forms will also be available at EFL Temporary Customer Care Centres throughout the country, the locations of which will be advertised in the Fiji Sun, on radio stations, and also on the Government website and Facebook page, and the EFL Facebook page this week.

A dedicated toll-free line will also be established to take any questions you may have.

The offer period will be open this Friday 20 April 2018, after that date, all you need to do is complete the application form and return it to EFL within five weeks, with the offer period closing at 4 pm on Tuesday, 29 May 2018. The exact details on how to submit your application will be advertised in the Fiji Sun in the English, iTaukei and Fiji Hindi languages this week.

And don’t worry if you are currently not connected to the grid, not only is your Government working to connect you soon, you will also have the opportunity to have shares offered to you as we will be holding some shares for future customers. Such future customers will be able to apply for shares until such time as all the shares have been allocated.

For those Fijians, who are eligible EFL customers, we urge you to take full advantage of this free share offer. It’s your chance to benefit from a Fijian company’s success in our growing economy, it’s your chance to be part of this exciting step forward.

Thank you. Vinaka vakalevu.