TT among region's highest electricity consumers

Minister of Public Utilities Robert Le Hunte
Minister of Public Utilities Robert Le Hunte

PUBLIC Utilities Minister Robert Le Hunte says TT is one of the highest per-capita consumers of electricity in Latin America and the Caribbean.

But, he said, "It is necessary that we as a country conserve electricity and promote optimisation of the country's natural resources in order to reduce the amount of natural gas used in the generation of electricity thus making more natural gas available for gas-based industries."

He made the announcement while responding to a question in the Senate yesterday.

He said in 2016 a population of 1.3 million consumed a total of 8,360,622,400 kilowatt hours of electricity, resulting in an annual per-capita consumption of 6,431 kilowatt hours. He added that, while TT is in the highest percentage for per-capita consumption in the region, the electricity price here was the second lowest in the world.

Le Hunte noted that electricity rates are the responsibility of the Regulated Industries Commission and not the Government. It was the Government's job to ensure that, within constrained resources, vulnerable groups receive assistance. He pointed to the 25 per cent electricity rebate to consumers at the lowest level which was introduced in 2017, has benefited more than 200,000
households and in fiscal 2018 was estimated to cost $48 million.

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"TT among region’s highest electricity consumers"

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