Prime Minister Dr. Godwin Friday has issued a firm directive to St. Vincent Electricity Services Limited (Vinlec), stating that the utility provider must show “grace” and cannot rush to disconnect customers from the national grid as they have in the past.
During a national broadcast, Friday addressed the “total sympathy” he feels for families struggling with high energy costs and emphasized that the company’s standard disconnection timeframes are no longer appropriate given the current economic crisis.
Friday was explicit in his expectation that the utility company must adjust its operations to reflect the financial reality facing Vincentian households. “Vinlec would also have to understand that they can’t rush and cut off people in the same time frames that they used to be in the past,” Dr. Friday stated.
He reminded the utility provider that Vinlec is “owned by the people” and that both the government and the company serve the same shareholders: the ordinary citizens of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Because of this, he argued, the company has a duty to be “understanding in these circumstances” rather than strictly adhering to old enforcement policies.
The Prime Minister’s call for flexibility comes amid a period of extreme pressure on energy prices, driven by international conflicts and supply issues that have spiked the cost of diesel fuel.
He revealed that if the government had not intervened by removing the fuel surcharge and excise tax, and if Vinlec had not been tasked with absorbing some costs, the fuel surcharge could have exceeded 90 cents per kilowatt hour.
In July alone, Vinlec absorbed over $730,000 that would have otherwise been passed on to consumers. Despite these measures, Dr. Friday acknowledged that the current surcharge remains “too high for [his] liking” and continues to cause significant hardship.
While Dr. Friday maintained that “people have a responsibility to pay their bills,” he insisted that the company must recognize the unique pressures of the current moment. He has mandated that Vinlec find internal efficiencies to help lower costs and work with consumers rather than cutting them off during this period of transition.
The Prime Minister concluded that his primary mandate is protecting the standard of living for the “ordinary person”. He framed the instruction to Vinlec as part of a larger effort to ensure that the most vulnerable are not “crushed” by an economic crisis that originated offshore but is being felt acutely in every home across the country.
