Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
Feb 10, 2015 News
The country’s power company is set to lower its electricity rates by 10 per cent from next month, President
Donald Ramotar has announced.
The announcement came yesterday from the Head of State as he commissioned the multi-billion new 26-megawatts power station of the Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) at Vreed-en-Hoop, West Bank Demerara.
“GPL has projected that based on fuel prices it will be able to implement a 10 per cent reduction in electricity costs across the board, starting with the consumption of electricity in March,” he said.
GPL is likely to call a press conference as early as today to unveil the details.
According to the President, the planned reduction of GPL rates will follow another move by Government to drop the tax on gas prices by 30 per cent after oil prices on the world market fell sharply by about 50 percent. The idea was to ensure savings are passed on the consumers. Savings will see more disposal income being available to consumers, he said.
The President also criticized transportation providers for not adjusting their fares.
“I do hope that those in the transportation sector will take a leaf out of the government’s book and also pass on this benefit to the consumers and people of Guyana.”
Yesterday, the Private Sector Commission (PSC) said that it welcomes the announcement by the President.
“The cost of electricity has long been one of the major stumbling blocks to the expansion of industry and the competitiveness of Guyana’s exports. This move will provide relief not only to businesses but to individual consumers who have struggled with high electricity costs.”
The business body said that since the reduction in electricity costs will contribute to a reduction in production costs of both manufacturers and service providers, the Commission would also like to see the cost of other energy-dependent goods and services going down.
“It is therefore calling on its members to pass any reductions on to their customers. The Private Sector Commission would like to urge the purveyors of public transportation services to follow suit and reduce the cost of their services so that commuters can benefit from the drop in the price of fuel.”
Meanwhile, the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GM&SA) Ltd, said that it is relieved that the government has made the decision to reduce electricity rates.
“President Donald Ramotar’s announcement (yesterday) will certainly be welcomed by Guyana’s manufacturers, service providers, commercial entrepreneurs, exporters and every other category of business owner.”
The announcement, GMSA said, is the first step towards significantly alleviating the high overhead costs for production and distribution of products made locally.
“Electrical energy is, without doubt, the most significant input into most, if not all, production processes. Guyana’s large and small scale producers and exporters have long indicated that the prices for their products have made them (products) uncompetitive in the export market, a situation which has been attributed to high energy charges.
“Inevitably this situation led to some contraction in the manufacturing sector.”
GMSA said it anticipates that the imminent reduction in electricity charges would spur industrial growth across all sectors, encourage diversification and birth new enterprises.
“We have been watching closely the world’s responses to the dramatic fall in global fuel prices and we did anticipate that our manufacturers and the business community at large would begin to benefit sooner rather than later. In the same context, we anticipate that the costs for raw materials, transportation and related factors of production would simultaneously decrease.”
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Apr 19, 2024
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