21/05/2026
Wrong Grid: How EFL Is Taking Fiji Down the Wrong Energy Path
EFL is taking Fiji down the wrong energy path — not because it has done nothing, but because after four decades of hydro development, billions in assets, repeated renewable targets, and major capex programmes, Fiji remains trapped in the imported-fuel vulnerability Monasavu was supposed to help Fiji escape.
Here is the evidence:
1. EFL’s 2023 Annual Report shows hydro generated 48.11% of electricity, thermal stations 45.10%, and IPPs 6.79%. Nearly half the grid remained thermal in 2023.
2. Monasavu was commissioned in 1983 specifically to reduce imported fuel dependence — yet diesel and HFO remain structurally necessary more than 40 years later.
3. When I served as Director Projects at FCCC (2007–2009), tariff increases were already being justified partly on the basis that Fiji would transition toward near-fully renewable electricity by around 2025. Today, EFL’s mission points toward 90% renewable energy by 2035 instead. The targets keep shifting while captive consumers keep paying.
4. EFL’s reports show continuing investment programmes, yet little evidence of transformational distributed-solar acceleration - < 5%.
5. EFL paid major dividends — about FJD 46.6M in 2022 and FJD 40.7M in 2023 — while fuel vulnerability persisted.
6. EFL’s 2023 report also recorded a loss after tax of about FJD 24.8M alongside fuel costs of roughly FJD 193M, exposing a contradiction between commercial returns and long-term energy security.
7. Rooftop solar remains constrained around the 5kW threshold for many connections — too small for many modern households once EV charging, induction cooking, batteries, and future electrification needs are considered.
8. The Audit (Exemption) Regulations 2021 exempt EFL from full Auditor-General scrutiny despite it being a strategic monopoly utility central to Fiji’s cost-of-living structure.
9. Pacific examples already prove distributed renewable transition is possible. Tokelau, Ta’u (American Samoa), the Cook Islands, Tonga, Samoa, Tuvalu, and Niue have all pursued solar-plus-storage strategies to reduce diesel dependence and strengthen energy resilience — yet Fiji continues lagging despite having larger scale and stronger hydro foundations.
All this points to a deeper problem:
This is no longer simply a failure of ex*****on.
It is a failure of design.
More than 40 years after Monasavu:
• households remain constrained from meaningful self-generation,
• distributed solar pe*******on remains low,
• thermal exposure remains high,
• fuel surcharges keep returning,
• and captive consumers continue funding the consequences.
The conversation must now shift toward:
• independent technical review,
• transparent fuel-cost analysis,
• public generation-cost disclosure,
• accelerated distributed-energy reform,
• separation of regulatory powers from generation,
• and a national energy redesign strategy.
Fiji should seriously consider establishing an independent Energy Redesign Commission bringing together power-generation experts, engineers, regulators, economists, utilities, private-sector actors, and consumer representatives to rapidly redesign Fiji’s energy future around resilience, transparency, distributed renewables, and reduced fuel dependency — with the goal of achieving this transition within the shortest time possible.
The real issue is not this month’s fuel price.
The real issue is why Fiji’s electricity system still behaves like an oil-importing system instead of a renewable-energy nation.
— Sunil Chand
Engineer | Reform Strategist | Fiji 2.0
Former FCCC Director Projects (2007–2009)
