Mark: Roll back on electricity rate hike, UNC WARNS OF UNREST

OPPOSITION Senator Wade Mark warned the Government to roll back proposed increases in electricity rates or face the prospect of social unrest.

Mark issued this warning in his contribution to the budget debate in the Senate on Friday.

The Regulated Industries Commission (RIC) announced the proposed rates at a news conference on Thursday.

Depending on usage, the new rates for 2023/24 will increase between 15 and 64 per cent for residential customers.

Mark said,”They (Government) are playing with fire. We are laying the seeds for social unrest.”

He predicted people will riot if the proposed rates take effect.

Mark called on Government not to implement these new rates.

“We may have to take the streets if the Government don’t roll it back.”

Mark described the budget as a declaration of war against the middle and working class and the poor.

“It’s only hammer blows.”

He claimed the budget was the creation of the PNM “and their IMF (International Monetary Fund) ally.”

Mark said all the budget does is “brutalise and pauperise the majority of the population and benefits an elite minority.

“TT is in trouble. The soul of the nation has been hijacked.”

He repeated the UNC’s claim that TT will not benefit from the Dragon gas deal with Venezuela.

“They (Government) are selling us a pipe dream.”

On Wednesday, Energy Minister Stuart Young announced the extension of the licence issued by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for TT to access natural gas from the Dragon gas field and the ability to pay for that gas in different ways

Former government ministers Vasant Bharath and Kevin Ramnarine, energy analyst Gregory McGuire, UWI economist Dr Vaalmikki Arjoon, Greater San Fernando Chamber president Kiran Singh, the Energy Chamber and the American Chamber of Commerce were among those who welcomed this development.

Mark also claimed the Government wanted to deny people the $3,000 pension they are entitled to from the National Insurance System (NIS) when they retire.

“Don’t touch the NIS $3,000.”

Mark also compared the PNM to a grave.“They are beautiful on the outside but they are rotten on the inside.”

He demanded an immediate general election. “For TT to grow, the PNM must go.”

T&TEC to meet to discuss rate hike

T&TEC’s executives were expected to meet on Friday to discuss the new terms and conditions laid out for the electricity commission for 2023-2027 by the Regulated Industries Commission (RIC). This was revealed by chairman Romney Thomas, who deferred comment on plans until further analysis could be done. On Thursday the RIC announced new terms and conditions for the electricity company. Among changes were a switch to a monthly billing cycle and an increase in maximum rates for all customers for the first time in 17 years. While the complete list of changes will become mandatory for T&TEC from November 1, RIC officials said the electricity utility will have the autonomy to manage the transition process in billing cycles in the way it believes is most apt. They also said while the RIC announced the new rates, the electricity commission can set the price wherever it chooses, once it is lower than the rates given. The rates given by the RIC are a price ceiling. The RIC has increased rates between 37 and 51 per cent for small businesses (B1) and ten and 12 per cent for larger businesses (B2), paying commercial rates. It also increased rates between 58 and 72 per cent for class D industrial customers, and 119 and 126 per cent for class E, industrial customers.If implemented at the maximum rate, RIC executive director Dawn Callender said on Thursday, T&TEC can expect a 50 per cent increase in revenue collected over the next year, moving from annual revenues of $3.2 billion to $4.8 billion.

With reporting by

Rishard Khan