THOUGH the Jamaica Observer
The state-owned oil refinery Petrojam has dismissed claims that it obtains crude oil at discounted prices under the PetroCaribe agreement with Venezuela but does not pass on the lower costs to consumers.
“It is not at a discount to Petrojam,” the refinery’s general manager, Winston Watson, declared at last week’s energy meeting at the refinery complex in Kingston.
There is he said a lot of misinformation and misdirected facts in the marketplace.
“We buy the crude oil from Venezuela at a competitive
MINISTER of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining Phillip Paulwell is seeking to reassure the nation that
SOLAR power has finally become a viable option, driven by falling prices for photovoltaic panels and the soaring cost of oil, say proponents of the alternative energy.
Rooftop panels, which could last for 25 to 30 years, will now pay for themselves in just six or seven years, claim advocates. Until recently, the pay-back period was up to 20 years.
The cost of solar cells has fallen by as much as 49.5 per cent since the start of 2011, according to the PVX spot market index, which tracks the monthly wholesale costs of the industry.
HIGH gas prices forced many Jamaicans to change their travel plans for the Easter holiday weekend.
A Jamaica Observer online poll shows that seven in 10 persons altered plans this weekend because of fuel costs. Almost 50 per cent of respondents say gas prices completely curtailed planned activities, nearly a third claim it was “somewhat influential” while just over a fourth boasts that their plans were not impacted at all.
The Easter holiday weekend kicked off on Good Friday and runs up to Easter Monday. Many Jamaicans traditionally travel to visit family and friends out of town or flock to parties in resort areas such as Ocho Rios and Negril. But record-high petroleum prices this year have threatened celebrations, with refinery prices for e10 87 and e10 90 gasoline having both risen by more than $13 a litre since the start of the year.
Taneisha Lewis, a public relations officer based in Kingston, shelved her usual holiday weekend plans because of high gas prices.
“Well, it has ruined it. I had to cancel my plan to visit family out of town,” she told Sunday Finance.
Lewis opted to “stay home and watch TV” instead of taking the costly journey in her sedan to see her relatives on the north coast.
The travel plans of St Catherine-based teacher Luther Davis suffered a similar setback. Davis, his wife and two children would usually take a ride in his station wagon to visit family in western Jamaica over the Easter weekend, but those plans were cancelled because of high fuel costs, he said.
“Gas prices have been impacting my life significantly, I would say, over the past year,” revealed Davis.
The teacher disclosed that the family has had to cut back on travelling by car significantly because of the rising petrol prices. He highlighted specifically that he no longer provides a lift by car to his wife
IN THE past two and a half decades, countries all over the world have sought to pursue the restructuring and introduction of competition into the electricity sector. In general, this has been prompted by the view that state ownership of utilities as well as the absence of competition, whether for privately or publicly owned utilities, invariably results in excessive costs, low service quality, poor investment decisions, and lack of innovation in delivering service to customers.
Furthermore, as has been the case in virtually every other sector of the world economy, rapid changes in technology, have created opportunities for new industrial structures capable of delivering electricity at lower cost. New technologies have impacted the generation of electricity and the computing systems used to meter and dispatch power. Customers, especially those with low levels of demand, have benefitted globally through innovations in electricity generation and customer service delivery. Unfortunately, in countries where profits are guaranteed, regulation is weak or competition is minimal (or non-existent) the electricity sectors have been slow to adapt and exploit these technological opportunities.
Models of competition
Several models of competition and industry restructuring have emerged in the past two decades. Respective country approaches usually involve one or more initiatives drawn from a portfolio of recommended practices and typically deployed on an incremental, progressive basis. Some of these include:
a)
The government of Jamaica is not using the pricing mechanism of the state-owned refinery, Petrojam, to jack up the price of petrol in order to benefit from increased tax revenues.
This was stated by General Manager of Petrojam, Winston Watson, on April 4, during a question and answer session on the topic:
THE GENERAL election has been won, state power now rests with the People’s National Party (PNP), and Phillip Paulwell no longer appears to be excited about ensuring
Phillip Paulwell, Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining, will on Tuesday provide answers to questions regarding GCT on electricity bills that were tabled by North East St Catherine Member of Parliament Gregory Mair.
Gregory Mair seeks answers on light bill tax promise
1. Can the Minister advise what is the net contribution to the Consolidated Fund of General Consumption Tax (GCT) charged to electricity bills, broken down by customer category (that is, residential, commercial, industrial)?
2. Can the Minister advise, of the total residential consumers, what number and percentage are below the GCT exempt threshold of 200 KWh/month?
3. Can the Minister advise how many additional residential consumers would benefit if the GCT