(Audio) Coalition of Concerned Citizens campaign for electricity& fuel rate reduction in proportion to decrease in cost of oil
By Coalition of Concerned Citizens
Sep 11, 2015 - 2:43:52 AM
Left to Right: Deron Brookes, Vice President BCIAWU; Rudy Stubbs, Senior Trustee BCIAWU; Dave Barr, Vice President Grand Bahama Port Authority Workers Union; and Pastor Eddie Victor President, Coalition of Concerned Citizens.
Freeport, Bahamas - In the audio above, The Bahamas Weekly News team provides you with a clip of comments made by Pastor Eddie Victor President, Coalition of Concerned Citizens.
(Statement from press conference on Monday, September 7th, 2015) Two years ago the Coalition of Concerned Citizens launched the Lower the Cost of Power Campaign on September 16, 2013 on the grounds of the closed Fenestration Glass Company, a company that closed its doors due to the high cost of electricity. The high electricity rate is still an hurdle for the operation of business on Grand Bahama Island. Thousands of people still live in darkness and businesses continue to close. In recent months businesses like the International Sewing Center which is a business that was in existence for more than 40 years has closed. Animale, another very popular clothing store in Port Lucaya also recently closed. Many businesses continue to scale back operations and potential investors are turned away from Grand Bahama due to excessive electricity cost. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.
Today CCC is gathered in front of the closed Butler’s Food World. This is another business that was a causality of high electricity rates. While the Grand Bahama economy continues to face challenges, the Grand Bahama Power Company/Emera submitted a number of studies and statistics to the Regulatory Committee of the Grand Bahama Port Authority to justify increasing electricity rates. Globally Oil prices has plummeted to the lowest prices in over 6 years and predicted to go as low as 30 dollars a barrel. Despite a lower global oil price environment which began since July 2014, the Island of Grand Bahama has yet to feel the full effect of this decrease. This means there should be no further increase in electricity rates, but in fact what is needed is an immediate reduction in rates to fall in line with global trends. Let us look at global oil prices versus local fuel prices:
Based on global oil prices, it is clear
that Grand Bahama is not receiving the benefits of a lower oil market. Why is that? Simply put, those who control
the energy and petroleum sectors are more concerned about their profits than
people. The power company and the
petroleum distributor for Grand Bahama have the responsibility to pass on these
lower global costs to all their customers.
This lends to the fact that the monopolistic industries on the Island
must come to an end. We need a new power
company, a deregulated environment with competition in the petroleum sector and
solar energy with net metering so that Grand Bahamians can receive economic
relief.
The Coalition of Concerned Citizens who
represents the people and businesses of Grand Bahama has requested a meeting
with the Regulatory Committee of the Grand Bahama Port Authority. The purpose
of this request is to present a case for the people of our great Island for
lower rates. Our Government has shared
the vision of bringing down the cost of electricity across the country. It is our belief that the Regulators should
be the defenders of the power company customers, diligently working on how to
bring down the cost of power on this Island. We the people and businesses on Grand
Bahama say
NO, NO, NO to any increase
in electricity rate. We encourage
citizens and all stakeholders to write, phone, fax and email the Regulator and
let them hear your voice saying a resounding
NO to increasing rates. Here
is where you can write:
The Regulatory Committee
the Grand Bahama Port Authority
P.O. Box F-42666 Freeport, Grand Bahama
Island
Tel: 242-350-9000 Fax: 242-352-6184 or on send a message by logging onto www.gbpa.com
For
more information on the Coalition of Concerned Citizens go to our Facebook page
‘Lower the Cost of Power, Grand Bahama."
Disclaimer:
The views expressed here are solely those of the author in his/her
private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of
TheBahamasWeekly.com
