BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – AT the stroke of the midnight hour (Aug. 1), residents of St. Kitts were introduced to the entity that has replaced the Electricity Department.
After months of preparation and consultation, the St. Kitts Electricity Corporation Limited (SKLEC) was established, nullifying the government-operated Electricity Department.
The ‘new’ company would be run by a Board of Directors and managed by a St. Maarten-based management firm called Caribbean Utilities Management and Operation Services.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Public Works and Utilities, Lenrick Lake told SKNVibes that the former body employed approximately 158 individuals and the current is providing employment for some 152.
While he was not in a position to name all members of the SKLEC’s Board, Lake identified the Chairman as Arthurlyn Belle.
He explained that whereas different aspects of the defunct Electricity Department were managed by government ministries, the new entity would exist under a dissimilar system.
“The department was managed by the ministry and it now has a totally different management structure. So, for example, the Ministry of Finance managed the financial affairs of the Electricity Department; the St. Kitts Electricity Corporation has its own accountant, its own CFO (Chief Financial Officer) etc. Once ago, the Human Resources Department for government would have handled the human resources but SKLEC has its own HR team.”
Just hours into the existence of the new entity, the electricity supply – as is the regular occurrence – was interrupted. A similar incident transpired on the following day which gave rise to concerns that the inefficiencies of the Electricity Department were carried over to SKLEC.
Lake, in response to these queries, explained that it could not be expected that just one day after transition from the old company was complete, the service would be instantaneously more reliable than it was in the past.
He said a more reliable supply would come but noted that “it would take some time” before that is realised.
“The service will not become more reliable over a couple of days. The company changed and I don’t expect them to do miracles in a hurry, because they are working with some of the same problems that they had. Their job is to identify the problems and fix them, so it will take time. That is one of the target areas of improvement. We expect to improve the reliability of service, productivity, a more customer friendly service and infrastructural management.”
For years, the practice was that persons wishing to pay their water bills were required to do so at the Electricity Department. Now that the entity has been corporatised – as explained by Lake – some of the previous arrangements would change and they would be communicated by SKLEC’s management.
