PHILIPSBURG--The Association for Consumer Protection St Maarten (ACP-SXM) says it is moving forward with legal action against NV GEBE, with President Peggy -Ann Richardson announcing Friday that the consumer advocacy group is preparing to take the utility company to court.
Speaking during a Facebook Live broadcast Friday, Richardson said ACP-SXM and its legal counsel are continuing to prepare the case while encouraging consumers to come forward with complaints.
"We are headed to court," Richardson said. She explained that preparing the case has taken time because of its complexity. "I stated from the beginning that the preparation for the court case will not be a simple one. We are talking here about NV GEBE, not talking about a mom and pop shop. The idea is to cover all bases."
Richardson encouraged residents to attend ACP-SXM's public intake session on July 18 during the Farmers Market at the Rupert I. Maynard Youth Community Center in St. Peters, where consumers can file complaints, ask questions and provide information to support the organization's legal case.
She assured the public that all information provided would remain confidential and would not be shared with GEBE.
Richardson said ACP-SXM was founded on the principles of transparency and representing the rights of consumers. She said the organization decided to pursue legal action after a series of events that began when NV GEBE increased the fuel clause on Mother's Day.
According to Richardson, ACP-SXM presented a nine-point petition to GEBE following its June 15 public march. She said the organization's two non-negotiable demands included an immediate halt to customer disconnections.
ACP-SXM requested that GEBE identify a contact person and set a meeting date by June 18 to discuss the petition. When no response was received by June 23, Richardson said the organization informed GEBE that the requested timeline had expired. She added that GEBE instead held a press conference on June 19, during which it stated it would not be able to meet ACP-SXM's demands.
Richardson said ACP-SXM then extended the deadline until June 26. On that date, representatives of ACP-SXM, including Richardson, board treasurer and founding member Solange Apon, together with the organization's legal counsel, met with GEBE's temporary manager, legal counsel and a note taker at the utility company's corporate office.
She described the meeting as positive, diplomatic and productive, saying it concluded with GEBE agreeing to halt customer disconnections that had been scheduled for June 29.
According to Richardson, ACP-SXM prepared draft minutes of the meeting shortly afterward because GEBE indicated it was busy. She said the Association also prepared a draft joint press statement that incorporated statements from both parties.
However, Richardson said ACP-SXM never received the recording of the meeting, approved minutes, GEBE's draft collection policy or a draft customer dunning letter that had been discussed.
She said GEBE later chose to issue its own press release rather than a joint statement despite ACP-SXM's efforts to work collaboratively. "What ACP was finding itself doing was meeting GEBE halfway, but GEBE did not want to meet us halfway," Richardson said.
Richardson said discussions between the parties eventually came to an end after GEBE's legal counsel informed ACP-SXM that the utility company would no longer continue discussions with the Association. Instead, GEBE requested that ACP-SXM submit individual consumer complaints directly to the company for review. She said ACP-SXM's legal counsel advised against doing so, and the organization would not provide individual consumer cases.
Richardson also criticized GEBE's temporary collection policy, which she said was introduced after the utility company announced that customer disconnections would resume on July 20. She questioned GEBE's statement that the policy had been developed after consultation with stakeholders and called on the utility to identify which stakeholders had been consulted.
Richardson noted that ACP-SXM had submitted its own draft temporary collection policy to GEBE on June 29 and June 30 based on best practices used by utility companies in Aruba, Curaçao, Barbados, Trinidad, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands but said the organization never received a response.
She also argued that announcing the temporary collection policy through a Facebook post did not constitute a proper public rollout. According to Richardson, ACP-SXM had recommended that GEBE work directly with community councils, community leaders, help desks and senior citizens' organizations to ensure residents understood the policy and had enough time to make payment arrangements.
Richardson said GEBE's social media posts and newspaper notices did not reach all of the utility company's approximately 23,000 customers and argued that residents were given less than 12 days to organize their finances and establish payment plans before disconnections were due to resume.
She stressed that ACP-SXM's objective is not simply to win a legal battle but to achieve an outcome that benefits consumers.
"This is not a race for who is going to win. ACP's goal is that whatever decision is taken, whether in court or outside court, that it is for the benefit of the consumer."
Richardson also criticized what she described as the absence of discussion surrounding approximately $6.9 million that she said is owed to consumers between 2022 and 2024, as well as what she said was a lack of significant information regarding the impact of the cyberattack on GEBE's operations.
