Government will instruct GEBE to implement different tariff this week

~No study on how it would affect GEBE~

PHILIPSBURG--Government will instruct GEBE this week to implement a particular tariff instead of the one government gave GEBE conditional permission to implement in August. After assuring the population a few months ago that there would be relief from high electricity bills once GEBE's tariff structure goes into effect, Minister of Economic Affairs Franklin Meyers on Wednesday said, "There hasn't been that much relief."

Meyers said government's tariff instruction to GEBE is not based on any study by government but on what he called "international norms." GEBE currently charges 29 cents per kilowatt hour and government intends to charge between 23 to 25 cents per kilowatt. Meyers said his decision was forced by GEBE's lack of cooperation in providing information regarding the makeup of its tariff structure and fuel clause so that government could ascertain the "true cost." The Minister said GEBE has not replied to letters from his Ministry. It should be pointed out that GEBE used to charge 17 cents per kilowatt in 1960.

Government tariffs will remain in place until Bureau Telecommunication & Post (BT&P) Curacao completes its scrutiny of the figures associated with GEBE's tariff structure. BT&P will then advise government how to proceed as of January 2012. BT&P however, requires information from GEBE.

The Minister could not say how government's tariffs would affect GEBE's investments and if those investments would still be met, if operational expenses can be covered if GEBE would still be in compliance with its debt service ratio of 1.5 with its major lender, how losses would be increased on Saba and Statia considering that tariffs would have to be reduced there as well and if the cost structures of the "international norms" that he referred to were the same as GEBE's. The Minister stated "I think with NAf. 70 million in the bank GEBE can survive for four months."

"If GEBE realized they had loans then they should have come to the Ministry and say: this is how we can move forward but you can't be blatantly ignoring. This is basically telling government to go ahead and do what you have to do. That's how I look at it," Meyers said.

The Minister did not say when this week GEBE would receive this instruction via letter.

Source: http://www.thedailyherald.com/islands/1-islands-news/20471-government-will-instruct-gebe-to-implement-different-tariff-this-week.html

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