RIC's proposed electricity rate hike: Tobago chamber chairman damn vex

TOBAGO stakeholders outright condemned the Regulated Industries Commission’s (RIC) recommendations for increasing electricity rates across the board to T&TEC customers. They are calling on citizens to reject these proposals, saying it will lead to further suffering.

Describing the move as a “slap in the face” of the average consumer, the Tobago Business Chamber said the reasons advanced by the RIC for the proposed hikes – increasing efficiency and productivity – made no sense.

Chamber chairman Martin George did not mince his words as he claimed T&TEC had a history of wasting billions of dollars.

“Yet still you are telling me that you are now going to impose a 15- 64 per cent increase on domestic consumers, and the inanity of it all is that those who are already paying a higher bill, you are increasing them at a higher rate. Does that ever make any sense?” he asked on Thursday in a WhatsApp video.

“This is the type of rubbish we have passing for governance and for governing standards in Trinidad and Tobago, and it is time we speak out!

“This is the rubbish that has occurred in Trinidad and Tobago over the decades and we the citizens have to take a stand, have to say enough is enough and we must call for it to stop.”

He called on the RIC to reverse its proposals and give ease to the population.

“You have property tax coming. You have water rates increasing. How much more is the small man, how much more is the individual supposed to take or suffer in this country?

“This is the type of situation (where) in other countries there would be rioting on the streets.

"So we want to register our strongest disapproval of this proposed rate increase and the extortionate figures put forth by the RIC. We call on government to have an immediate reversal of this.

George said the chamber is willing to partner with its counterparts to prevent the proposed rates from being implemented.

“This rate increase is unconscionable and ought not to be allowed to continue.”

Minimum wage hike mamaguy  

The Innovative Democratic Alliance (IDA) said the proposed rate hikes would make the much touted $3 increase in the basic minimum wage null and of no use to the common man.

“One is left to surmise that ‘this government giveth and taketh away, all in one sweep,’” the party said a release.

“The mamaguy of the increased minimum wage has become nothing in the face of these increasing electricity rates for residential owners. It seems as if government, through its many agencies, is intent on taxing the citizens into even further hardship.”

Like the Tobago chamber, the IDA expressed serious concerns about the increased financial strain being imposed on citizens.

“With the introduction of property tax for residential owners looming on the horizon, this added burden of increased electricity rates is a proverbial ‘punch in the gut’ to citizens.

“The meagre four per cent salary increase to public servants and the increase in minimum wage stated in the budget will have negligible cushioning effect on the increasing cost of living facing the average citizen. How much more pressure can our private sector withstand?”

The party urged citizens to “brace for a long period of hardship,” as it believes government is not prepared to be transparent with the people on the real state of the economy.

Duke: Government abusing us 

Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP) political leader Watson Duke said the move will further pauperise citizens, many of whom he believes are already struggling to make ends meet.

He cautioned that the proposed rise in electricity rates could trigger an increase in violence and joblessness.

“Everything comes back down to the way we live,” Duke said in a WhatsApp video.

Describing the proposed rates as “vexatious,” he added, “I think it is worrisome and betrays the trust that the people placed in this PNM government. Nobody votes a government for abuse. This government in particular has been going down the road of abusing citizens.”

The Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce, meanwhile, said the proposed increases will definitely affect the business community.

The organisation’s president Curtis Williams said via WhatsApp, “We are presently working the numbers to get a closer look as to the potential effect on us.”

He questioned T&TEC’s efficiency, saying there are opportunities for cost-saving.

“I hope the board of directors of T&TEC and its executive management look closely at its operations. The business community will definitely be looking at the service provider and what it’s doing with the increase in revenue and what we get as value for our money.”

THA Minority Leader Kelvon Morris, noting the RIC is an independent, non-partisan, regulatory body, said the rates being recommended are “not the final phase of the process and the government will now have an opportunity to examine the final recommendation and also advise.”

He said while there might be some anxiety among the public, “I believe one ought not to panic or seek to pre-empt the final decision to come by government.”