Scotiabank‘s energy loan customers can now determine potential loan payments, based on consumption, online.
The financial institution launched its innovative SmartEnergy Calculator on Thursday at its Constant Spring Financial Centre. The nifty energy loan calculator complements the Bank‘s SmartEnergy Loan available to Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and householders to fund energy efficiency projects that will help the environment and cut energy costs.
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(From left) Kelly Tomblin, CEO of Jamaica Public Service Company; Wayne Powell, executive vice-president retail, Scotiabank; Dr Kirk Abbott, managing director of New Leaf Energy and Phoebe Buchanan, manager of Scotiabank
With competitors like Scotiabank and Victoria Mutual Building Society (VMBS), newcomer Nation Growth Microfinance Limited found a way to attract more clients to its Green Energy Loan. While its rivals offered an interest rate of over nine per cent on similar loan packages, Nation Growth’s rate is the lowest in the island at eight per cent.
“We’re not going to leave out any sector of the society,” said senior sales manager Vernon Dunkley. “In pricing our product, we assume eight per cent is the rate that the average person will find feasible.” But although eight per cent can be considered unprofitable, Dunkley said the company would not raise its rates since this will leave some potential customers behind. “We don’t think the way our competitors think,” he said at a Development Bank of Jamaica energy conference at Emancipation Park on Friday. “If we give customers an opportunity to save, then they end up with more funds to spend on other things, like one of our other products.” Building customer relationships is a crucial strategy, he said, noting that small increments of profit spread out over many clients will leave Nation Growth with a bottom line similar to other firms. Green energy loans are the latest offering by financial institutions that provide small and medium enterprises as well as residential customers the opportunity to retrofit their properties with energy conservation devices. The ongoing discussion about alternative energy sources has provided the perfect opening to introduce people to what those alternatives are, Dunkley said. All three institutions have partnered with companies providing renewable energy solutions to make it easier for customers to choose alternatives. Both Nation Growth’s and Scotiabank’s partnerships with Iree Solar and New Leaf, respectively, allow for customers to sell any excess energy they might generate to the Jamaica Public Service using the standard operating contracts provided through the Offices of Utility Regulation. VMBS’s partnership with ConserveIt provides discounts on heating systems and other energy sources, said the energy company’s chief marketer, Milton Jackson. Read more:
Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining (STEM), Hon. Phillip Paulwell Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining (STEM), Hon. Phillip Paulwell, is urging small and medium sized enterprises to take advantage of the energy management loan facility being offered by the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ). The DBJ/PetroCaribe (SMEs) Energy Fund allows SMEs to access loans of up to $30 million at a rate of 7.5 per cent to retrofit their operations to accommodate energy efficiency, energy conservation and alternative energy sources. Under the programme, business operators across all sectors of the economy are encouraged to refurbish their facilities with renewable energy solutions, such assolar water heaters and solar panels, in an effort to effectively manage and conserve energy in their day-to-day operations. However, speaking at the DBJ
EXIM Bank Jamaica has again cut lending rates on its renewable energy loans for investment in energy-efficient equipment. The new rate on offer to small and medium enterprises in the productive sector is 8.5 per cent for Jamaican dollar loans, down from 9.75 per cent last September. The USD rate 5.75 per cent. “We know that energy costs are high and this is adversely affecting the growth of our small and medium enterprises. Not only in them realising profit but in their ability to compete effectively in the international markets,” said Valerie Crawford, manager of trade financing and risk management at EXIM Bank in a bank-issued statement. The energy loans are available to commercial and industrial users, energy service companies and manufacturers of energy efficiency equipment and devices. business@gleanerjm.com Read more:
Scotiabank Jamaica has created a loan facility which can be accessed by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as well as homeowners to purchase renewable energy systems. The loan is being offered at a rate of 9.75 per cent per annum. Also available is an unsecured loan at a rate of 15.99 per cent. The institution
The state-owned oil refinery Petrojam is to provide full disclosure on its pricing mechanism in the wake of Saying the issue was as fundamental as their survival, a group of micro and small businesses has collected close to 1,000 signatures on a petition handed to Prime Minister (PM) Bruce Golding pleading for support of the sector. The MSME Alliance’s list of concerns runs the gamut of the expensive cost of doing business, and how to mitigate impact on companies’ bottom line. Its list was mostly skewed towards access to credit and taming energy overheads, including a proposal to implement an energy subsidy financed from dividend payments to the Government on its one-fifth equity stake in the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS). The proposal goes even further to suggest that Jamaica “assume ownership of transmission lines”, which are currently the property of the JPS. The utility is owned 40 per cent by Marubeni of Japan, 40 per cent by Taqa of the United Arab Emirates, 19.9 per cent by the Government of Jamaica through the accountant general and the Development Bank of Jamaica, while 0.1 per cent is held by individuals. But the group is also seeking more duty concessions, the establishment of an agency that can sell “collateral cover” to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), and a more palatable credit policy that makes it easier for them to access investment capital. The alliance – whose membership covers 35 business associations that represent some 300,000 businesses – staged a mock funeral for businesses in the MSME sector in August, which it dubbed ‘Bawl Out’, to bring public attention to the concerns. list of concerns From that event, and subsequent feedback from businesses, it has put together a 10-point list of concerns, which the group has asked Golding to give some consideration to before returning to the public-private sector Partnership for Transformation Talks. They met with the PM on September 2, according to a release from the group. “These signatures represent only a small fraction of the support we have received since our Bawl Out in Portmore Pines,” said Anthony Charley, first vice-president of the MSME Alliance. “Our members are fighting for survival and we will continue to bawl out until we feel the support from the Government.” The 10-point list, including sub-points – dubbed by the alliance as a large-scale national risk-management programme for MSMEs |