PHILIPSBURG--Prime Minister Dr. Luc Mercelina said on Wednesday that he has officially submitted a letter to the Supervisory Board of Directors (SBOD) of utilities company NV GEBE, outlining specific recommendations aimed at reducing the high cost of electricity for consumers in St. Maarten.
The letter, sent on May 22, includes a 40-page report compiled by Regulatory Authority Curaçao (RAC) in collaboration with Bureau Telecommunications and Post St. Maarten (BTP), which provides a set of proposed measures to help mitigate the financial burden caused by soaring energy bills, particularly the fuel clause component.
Mercelina said the report had been forwarded in full to GEBE’s SBOD, along with his instructions that the recommendations be communicated to the company’s executive board for timely execution.
“On the basis of the report … I sent a letter to the Supervisory Board of Directors of GEBE giving some elucidation on the report that was handed over to me,” Mercelina said during Wednesday’s live Council of Ministers press briefing. “In that way, they also got a copy of that report and they got the guidelines that the RAC has proposed to me. I actually forwarded them to the SBOD for them to actually communicate them to their executive board for them to see how they are going to execute the recommendation that I received from the RAC/BTP.”
He explained that the process now rests with the company, in line with the country’s corporate governance framework. “So, the letter has been sent, and it’s now all in the hands of GEBE realising the code of corporate governance,” he said.
He stressed that this is a follow-through on a promise he made to the people of St Maarten to address the high cost of energy. “The government realises that the people are in need; there is a big challenge with the high cost of energy in this country,” he said. “Dr. Mercelina, the Prime Minister, promised the people that I am going to [address it] as shareholder of GEBE.”
He also expressed appreciation to the regulatory bodies involved in the research. “We approached the RAC and the BTP; they did their work for us, of which I want to thank them for the great work that they did,” he said.
According to Mercelina, the RAC/BTP report includes practical recommendations to help lower the fuel clause that consumers see reflected on their water and electricity bills. Those suggestions are now before GEBE’s board for review and potential execution.
