Abdulah rejects UNC's position on electricity hikes

MOVEMENT for Social Justice (MSJ) political leader David Abdulah scoffed at the UNC's public opposition to any proposal to increase domestic electricity rates.

He did so during a virtual news conference on Sunday.

Abdulah said electricity rates should be increased only for large businesses in TT who could afford it, not households or small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

He scoffed at the UNC's opposition to increasing domestic electricity rates.

Abdulah claimed that in its two incarnations in government (1995-2001 and May 2010- September 2015), the UNC was supportive of arrangements that provided fertile ground for such increases.

He argued that in 2013 the UNC led- People's Partnership government did not take the chance to place the Trinidad Generation Unlimited (TGU) plant in La Brea under the TT Electricity Commission (T&TEC) to improve the latter's ability to generate electricity for the wider population.

TGU was formed on December 13, 2006 as a joint venture between the Union Estate Electricity Generation Company Ltd (UEEGCL) and AES Corporation of the United States.

The plant began operations in January 2009. TGU was contracted for a power purchase agreement (PPA) to sell 720 MW at a combined equivalent availability of 93 per cent to two buyers — Alutrint Limited (Alutrint) for 240 MW and T&TEC for 480 MW — in a joint and several arrangement for a 30-year term that began in 2011.

After the Alutrint project was cancelled, all power was contracted to T&TEC.

TGU began commercial operations on August 1, 2011 on a phased basis.

The company, eventually attained the ability to deliver full capacity in December 2012 when the final phase of construction was completed.

On July 10, 2013, UEEGCL acquired all the existing shares held by the AES Corporation, making TGU a 100 per cent state-owned company.

In May 2018, TGU became part of the National Investment Fund Holding Company Limited (NIF

Abdulah suggested the Regulated Industries Commission (RIC) look at existing power purchase agreements in TT before deciding whether increasing electricity rates was justified at this time.