Indarsingh: T&TEC workers must reject rate hike

While the electricity rate increase could see T&TEC revenue rise by 50 per cent ($1.6 billion) in the first year, Couva South MP Rudranath Indarsingh believes workers at the commission must stand against the hike. and suggested they should engage in civil disobedience. His comments came as a group of some 40 concerned citizens from Couva and environs descended on the commission's Couva branch on Wednesday morning to demonstrate against the increase. "When the increases in food prices and the increases in the electricity bill, they are telling you you would have to pay more for water, you would have to pay property tax – will an increase in the minimum wage and will four per cent (a four per cent wage increase) be able to purchase goods and services for you?

"That is the message we are sending here to all employees of T&TEC: be part of a grand struggle to reject the recommendations of the Regulated Industries Commission (RIC).

"It is high time (and) probably the time will come that the employees of the TT Electricity Commission must engage in some kind of civil disobedience to send a message to the Government of Trinidad and Tobago that you are workers too and that you have bills to pay and you reject the recommendations of the RIC of TT.

"He also said police officers must question whether the four per cent salary increase proposed by the Government can allow them to meet the needs of their families with the current cost of living. He said the Prime Minister and Cabinet have the power to reject the RIC's new terms and conditions, which increased electricity rates between 15 and 126 per cent, depending on the class of users. As part of the RIC's process, it hosted consultations nationally over 12 weeks between January 6 and March 31. But Indarsingh said the commission did not "consult properly" with many people. "They did not consult properly with the people of Couva. They did not consult with the employees of T&TEC and they did not consult with the employees or the police officers and the law enforcement officers of TT in a thorough and meaningful manner when they made this recommendation to increase their electricity bill."

He reiterated calls for the electricity commission to "clean house" before increasing rates to the population.