Director at DOMLEC Sam Rafael has announced that the introduction of geothermal energy will reduce consumer electricity bills in Dominica by 17 per cent, a concrete figure attached to a project Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has spent several budget cycles describing as transformative. Rafael’s announcement, made in early May, translates a long-promised energy transition into a specific household impact for the first time at scale.
Geothermal has been the centrepiece of Dominica’s energy strategy since the Government identified the Roseau Valley resource and began developing a small commercial plant designed to displace diesel generation. For an island whose electricity costs have routinely sat among the highest in the Eastern Caribbean — driven by imported fuel — a 17 per cent reduction on household bills changes the cost-of-living calculation across rental markets, small business operating costs, and remittance allocation. Skerrit has positioned geothermal as part of a wider transformation package that also includes the international airport, the cable car project, and port and marina expansion.
For diaspora Dominicans in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada — and for returnees considering Roseau, Portsmouth, or the rural communities — the geothermal figure converts a policy abstraction into a billing-cycle reality. It also reframes the longstanding national debate about Dominica’s Citizenship by Investment programme, much of whose revenue Skerrit has said has financed the transformation projects geothermal anchors. The Prime Minister has defended the CBI as one of the most reputable in the world and central to financing capital investment of this scale.
Sources: DBS Radio Dominica, May 7, 2026; OPM Pressroom; Dominica News Online.