$48M in T&TEC rebates

Minister of Public Utilities, Fitzgerald Hinds, made the announcement yesterday at a press conference at the Ministry’s headquarters at One Alexandra Place in St Clair, Port-of-Spain.

Hinds stated that, as promised, from December 1 any person with an electricity bill of $300 or less would receive a 25 percent rebate.

He noted that, according to the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (TTEC), 209,713 residential customers consistently pay $300 or less on their bi-monthly bill.

“So the government is forgoing, TTEC is forgoing $48 million to all of those 209,713 persons in keeping with the policy of poverty reduction and the alleviation of the stresses of the economic circumstances as I described them and, of course, these designed to improve the standard of living so the money they save on the bill, they can use it to purchase other necessaries,” he said.

Hinds added that the bill of $300 included total kWh consumption for the bi-monthly period, the $6 customer charge, VAT of 12.5 percent. If the bill goes over $300 because of extra charges including disconnection, reconnection, arrears, adjustments, etc, the customer still qualifies for the rebate.

Kelvin Ramsook, TTEC General Manager also asked customers to conserve electricity since natural gas was used to generate electricity. Since natural gas was not a renewable resource, he asked persons not to leave their outside lights and Christmas decorations on during the day.

He also gave some safety advice to those lighting up for Christmas.

He said persons should ensure that decorations are not placed close to TTEC electrical lines and that electrical cords were not frayed but properly insulated as accidentally touching the wires could shock or electrocute a person.

Ramsook suggested that persons connect all their Christmas lights to surge protectors rather than using extension cords as these cords could overload, causing the cord to burn or an electrical fire.

These surge protectors should be able to accommodate 500 Jules or above, and be UL (Underwriters Laboratories Inc) certified for safety.