Electricity
CUC is the sole provider of electricity to Grand Cayman. The Company has offices in several locations, but the West Shore Centre (Pink Plaza) cash office on West Bay Road is the easiest to find. CUC's corporate headquarters is on North Sound Road, which is in the Industrial Park. To obtain electricity service, property owners are not required to show proof of ownership. Property renters are required to pay a deposit, provide a rental agreement or lease and take their passport or driver's licence along for photo ID. The standard deposit is CI$100 per room for residential homes and condos/apartments less than 1,100 square feet, and CI$500 for condos/apartments over 1,100 square feet. Opening hours at the West Shore Centre office are 8.30am-4pm, Monday-Friday and 8.30am-12 noon on Saturday.
Cayman runs on a 110v electricity system with three-pin plugs (see picture this section). However, the outlets are designed to accommodate a two-pin American plug. This means appliances from the United Kingdom or Europe will not work in Cayman, but American appliances will. Monthly electric bills vary widely, depending on the size of the house/condo/apartment, how often and how cold you run your air conditioning and the efficiency of your air conditioning unit. For example, expect to pay approximately CI$100 per month for a two-bedroom residence without air conditioning, or CI$250 if it is air-conditioned. Cooling a three to four-bedroom residence will cost at least CI$350 per month.
For example, two people living in a two-bedroom apartment and running the a/c at 79F in the evenings would use approximately 1,000kWh per month in the winter and 1,200kWh per month in the summer. The electric bills would be CI$214.70 and CI$256.76 respectively. You can download customer service forms as well as energy saving tips at www.cuc-cayman.com.
The base cost of electricity as of June 2009 is CI$0.1039 per kWh for residential customers, including a monthly facility charge fee of CI$5.12. However, if you factor in the fuel surcharge (which is added as a separate line item and varies from month to month), the cost per kWh is CI$0.2097. The fuel surcharge fluctuates with the global price of oil and the cost of fuel is passed down to the consumer after a two-month lag. The cost of electricity is the same Island-wide and does not fluctuate depending on the time of day.
457 North Sound Road
PO Box 38, Grand Cayman KY1-1101
Tel: (345) 949 4300
Customer Service Fax: (345) 945 1218
Customer Service Email: service@cuc.ky
www.cuc-cayman.com
Gas - Household
Bottled gas is used for cooking in some homes and is available from Home Gas (Tel: (345) 949 7474). The cost is CI$89 per 100 pound cylinder. The 20 pound cylinders used for barbecuing can be found at most gas stations, but you must have an empty cylinder to swap out. The cost is CI$33.
PO Box 291, Citrus Grove Bldg., Goring Avenue
Grand Cayman KY1-1104
Tel: (345) 949 7474 Fax: (345) 949 0845
Petrol
In Cayman, there are numerous Esso and Texaco petrol stations, most of them with convenience shops selling toiletries, groceries, water, gas cylinders and snacks (incidentally, they are often the only places open on a Sunday where you can get essential supplies). The average cost of full service premium petrol at the pumps is now around CI$3.89 per gallon, although price varies from one station to another. Self-serve petrol is about CI$.05 cheaper, while diesel is around CI$3.75 per gallon. Please note that the petrol pump nozzles on both diesel and petrol are the same size in Cayman, unlike in Europe and the US, where they are different sizes. Therefore, it is quite possible to mistakenly put diesel in a petrol-run car. You can view the cost of petrol at each station on www.planning.gov.ky (look under petroleum inspectorate).
Water
Cayman Water (Tel: (345) 945 4277) and the Water Authority (Tel: (345) 949 6352) supply Grand Cayman with quality water. In the case of both companies, water is extracted from 250-foot-deep wells located throughout the Island. The water that is extracted is essentially seawater and so has to be treated via the reverse osmosis process to produce drinking water. This process, together with the addition of three fluoride-free chemicals, makes the water safe to drink straight from the tap. However, it does sometimes taste a bit of chlorine, so you may want to use a filtration system (i.e., Brita) to enhance the taste. You can get carbon refills at Priced Right.
If you are renting an apartment, the water bill must be in the landlord's name, however, a duplicate bill will be sent to you directly for payment. Landlords may also ask for a water deposit. Of the two water companies, Cayman Water serves the Seven Mile Beach and West Bay areas, while the Water Authority serves the rest of Grand Cayman. They both require you to fill out an application, present your Land Registry form (which proves you own the house) and pay a CI$80 non-refundable connection fee. Also, make sure the previous owners have paid the last water bill, as having an old outstanding balance on your account will complicate things. Water is not cheap, so also make sure you don't run up a huge bill by having a leaking tap or running toilet. At the Water Authority, the first 12 cubic meters (or 3,200 U.S. gallons) will be charged at CI$4.01/m³. Anything above that will cost CI$5.10/m³. An average water bill for two people in a two-bedroom house, using 20m³ per month, is CI$89. The Water Authority's website, www.waterauthority.ky, provides information on outages, tips on saving water, water and sewage application forms, meter reading request forms, online fault reporting and an offer for free water-saving shower heads.
If your home is on cistern or well water, you will probably want to drink bottled water or will need to boil the water before drinking. There are water companies on the Island that can deliver bottled water right to your home. Flowers Bottled Water (Tel: (345) 949 8688) supplies five-gallon water bottles for CI$6 each, and you can rent or buy cooler stands from them too. Alternatively, many supermarkets, Priced Right and Cost-U-Less sell spring water by the case, as does the wholesale department at Jacques Scott.
