Since 2005, the economically competent and visionary SVG Green Party has been calling for VINLEC’s 34 year old monopoly to go. The monopoly was only to assist VINLEC as an emerging company. Now VINLEC is well established and the monopoly needs to be abolished to facilitate the introduction of competitors with renewable energies.

SVG Green Party was shocked to hear the CEO of VINLEC raise concerns about the rise in electricity consumption. Has the SVG nation been taken for a ride on energy statements by the ULP regime or is it more ULP regime incompetence in the use of a common calculator in energy projections and prices? The ULP regime told us that the new Lowmans Bay electricity plant would meet SVG’s energy needs for the foreseeable future and that the Petro-Caribe agreement would bring down the price of electricity. Also, the Cuban light bulbs were meant to reduce energy use and bring down household electricity bills. Well, the opposite has taken place – energy consumption is at record high levels and energy prices are just as high, if not higher. Can we trust the wicked and incompetent ULP regime?

The way forward is an energy strategy without a VINLEC monopoly. The monopoly is destructive to the true economics that SVG needs. The longer the ULP regime keeps this monopoly, the longer SVG families will suffer and be impoverished by these over-inflated prices. This strategy of raising money through peoples’ electricity bills is no substitute for good economic management. It will not compensate for the ULP regime’s economic inability and it will cause a downturn in the economy.

As energy users put more and more of their income towards paying for electricity, and this money drifts abroad to pay for the oil, we will see less money spent here in Vincentian businesses. The business sector will suffer with this unnecessary drain as a greater proportion of householders’ money goes on electricity bills only. They will have less money to spend in SVG businesses.

If the ULP regime carries out their mad economic folly of having mass tourism, then we will see a massive increase in energy demand. Tourists generally use on average between 3 and 4 times the amount of electricity than Vincentians. With this increased demand the price for electricity will undoubtedly soar sky high, and we will be unable to afford to use our own electricity. The rich tourists will always be able to pay more than us and Vincentians will be left in the dark. Is this good economics? No, it’s ULP regime economics.

The SVG economy has already been substantially weakened under the short-term outlook economics of the ULP regime. The sustainability of the long-term energy needs of SVG’s people and businesses needs to be secure. The increased demand for electricity means an increased dependence on oil. As a country though, we should moving away from oil dependence. The ULP regime’s insistence of the VINLEC monopoly is putting our long-term guaranteed access to electricity in serious jeopardy. We cannot afford a situation where overnight global oil prices rise and SVG businesses and households become priced out the energy market.