BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - LAST Thursday, April 26, at a public meeting Prime Minister and National political leader of the St. Kitts - Nevis Labour Party the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas made a plea to citizens to join him on Monday, May 7, which is also Labour Day, in a march to lower the unbearable high cost of electricity.
At his weekly radio show "Ask the PM", Dr. Douglas gave an explanation as to why he made the request, in response to one of the caller's questions.
The Prime Minister said that the call on citizens to march to bring down the high cost of electricity was a genuine call made in order to bring support to the government's policies that are presently being pursued to have cheaper electricity.
"I was speaking specifically to the support that the government needs from all of our citizens...the support that is required to bring a common policy to fulfillment with regards to bringing down the cost of electricity," he explained.
He went on to say that citizens need to support the government's policy towards renewable energy.
"Support government's policy towards renewable energy especially the geothermal that is going to come out of Nevis, the wind energy that is being supplied in Nevis and hopefully will be supplied in St. Kitts very shortly and also the solar energy that is already being supplied through a number of pilot projects through the auspices of the government and the goodwill of the Taiwanese government," he clarified.
PM Douglas explained that electricity is dependent upon Diesel which, he said, is very expensive and its cost is constantly increasing.
"And as we realise that the price of electricity generated from Diesel as part of fossil fuel, we are saying that we can remove entirely things like fuel surcharge if we are going to get energy from geothermal, energy from solar, energy from wind because you don't have that kind of cost. It would be cutting electricity cost by at least 50 percent," the Prime Minister explained.
The finance minister pointed out that the electricity cost reduction would not take place right away but the march would bring support to his government in its quest to pursue the programme it is pursuing so that the cost of electricity would be reduced as quickly as possible.
He went on to state that his government, in the meantime, is going to continue to ensure that less electricity is being burnt which would result in less cost being incurred.
He further stated that his government is also looking at initiatives to handle outstanding arrears that some persons have with regards to electricity.
"We believe that we will be able to find a way to insist that people remain current but at the same time use a packaged arrangement to deal with the high arrears the some people still have. The government continues to work on it and as soon as this package is completed, it would be made known to the public," he said.
The Prime Minister stressed that his government, in the long run, wants to bring the high cost of electricity down and that that would be made possible through renewable energy through geothermal, wind and solar energy.
