A Deliberate Waste of Vincy Resourece According to Herbert Haz Samuel and if we had people in leadership who really care about the welfare our nation, we could have been about six years ahead of Saint Lucia who just reduced the price of their electricity! Do read below an article by Haz Samuel... ********************** The original article (link below) points out that LUCELEC, Saint Lucias electricity company, has achieved a reduction in its basic electricity tariff, largely due to a fuel price hedging programme which LUCELEC has had in place for the past five years. The companys CEO explained that the fuel price hedging programme is designed to reduce large fluctuations in the fuel surcharge. Interested observers in St Vincent & The Grenadines might well ask: why hasnt something similar happened here? Heres an interesting historical note on the matter. Six years ago (in March 2008) I took the liberty of sending the prime minister of SVG an unsolicited briefing paper entitled A proposal for reducing OECS electricity sector fuel costs by hedging against oil price increases. The 15-page document was essentially a proposal to our PM to take the lead in studying the problem and suggesting a regional solution. At the time of my proposal, oil prices (and our fuel surcharge) had for several years been heading towards record highs - and over the same period, the value of the US dollar was trending towards record lows. In my cover letter I explained that because crude oil is priced in US dollars, an opportunity for hedging was present. I wrote: the price risk inherent in buying fuel in US dollars can be hedged by investing in a currency that is appreciating against the US dollar. If this is coupled with a review and adjustment of the base year set-point for the calculation of the fuel surcharge, we believe that the opportunity exists for a reduction in the fuel surcharge, both in absolute and relative terms. I expanded on the technical matter in my paper and concluded by proposing an organizational structure, a schedule and a preliminary budget for setting up a task force to get the ball rolling. Naturally, I proposed that I should be included in the task force. Several years (yes, years) later, I received a letter of acknowledgement from the permanent secretary in the ministry. The letter thanked me for my proposal, but was otherwise non-committal. And that was the end of it. The rest, as they say, is history. caribbean360/index.php/news/st_lucia_news/1106790.html#axzz2trv11vIH
Posted on: Mon, 24 Feb 2014 15:40:38 +0000
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