Padarath promises no hike in water, electricity rates

Barry Padarath, Minister of Public Utilities and Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister promised residents there will be no increase of water or electricity rates in the near future.

He said while the Regulated Industries Commission (RIC) was going through its processes, the government would put an immediate stop to any rate increases.

The RIC completed its review of electricity rates in November 2023 and the former administration was evaluating possible government subsidies up to the general election on April 28.

To increase water rates, Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) had to submit a business plan, which it did in November 2024. The next step was to review and discuss a business plan with WASA before more rounds of public consultation before a final determination was made.

After his swearing-in as minister at President's House, Port of Spain on May 3, Padarath said the PNM government gave a lot of mixed signals about the fate of WASA. He said he intended to see the plan submitted by WASA before making any moves.

“The PM has already articulated that we’ll put an immediate stop to any increase with respect to electricity and water, but we must see what that reform meant, particularly for labour, for employees.”

“I want to assure WASA that the government will not take any steps until we are fully apprised of what is the true state of what was submitted by the former administration to the RIC in terms of how they saw the reformation of WASA happening.”

Another issue he planned to address was that of the hacking of TSTT in 2023 which led to the data of over one million people being put on the dark web. He said the report on the situation had not been shared with the public but he hoped to access it and lay it in Parliament.

“I think the citizens of TT have a right to know what really occurred. It’s been almost a year and a half that cyberattack took place in TSTT and there has been no full ventilation on that matter. It is a national security issue separate and apart from an attack on our cybersecurity.”

Other concerns included TTEC’s large debt to the National Gas Company, and that ministries and state agencies that had not paid its bills for years while the average customer was disconnected if they missed one payment.