Government Ready to Introduce its Own Tariff Structure at GEBE --- Tariff will be based on International Norms --- Meyers.

Thursday, 08 September 2011 01:18 SMN NEWS TEAM

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Philipsburg:--- The Minister of Economic Affairs Franklin Meyers announced on Wednesday that the Government of St. Maarten is ready to introduce its own tariff structure at GEBE, a measure he believes will force GEBE to the negotiating table with government.
The Minister of Economic Affairs said he sent numerous letters to GEBE requesting the unprotected report but GEBE did not respond to his letters. Minister Meyers said government allowed GEBE to introduce its new tariff structure based on the KEMA report if their pricing could have been substantiated. Meyers said government wants GEBE to provide them with the unprotected figures of their cost and tariff structures so they could determine whether or not the true cost is passed on to the consumer and not the company's in-efficiencies. "I am basically forced to implement the international norms per kilowatt at GEBE, hoping that this would bring the company to the negotiating table." The Minister further explained that international consumers are charged 0.25cts per kilowatt while GEBE charges its consumers 0.29cents per kilowatt. Meyers said he will be sending a letter to GEBE before the end of this week which would indicate to them what tariff structure they have to implement.
The Minister further explained that his Ministry can no longer wait on GEBE and since GEBE is not responding to government he has to do what is necessary to make them comply. He said GEBE has over Naf. 70 million in their accounts and he believes that they will survive the next four months. When asked if government conducted any study on the tariff structure, the Minister said that government did not conduct any studies and the only report they have is the KEMA report.

Last Updated ( Thursday, 08 September 2011 01:18 )

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Comments (8)

08-09-2011 02:22 |Unregistered| XXX

Really.
Seeing is believing.
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08-09-2011 03:34 |Unregistered| GEBE FUEL CLAUSE SAGE

Hon.Min.Meyers, all of a sudden U have come up with a proposal to send Gebe a letter and determine the rate structure> And if Gebe refuses U will force them.
All of a sudden U have sent so many letters unanswered by GEBE. What makes u think that they will react to this one???
Why wasnt this brought forward when MP William Marlin proposed the reduction of 50% for the next six months. Why did all of U vote against it and came up with flimsy excuses like,: U cannot dictate to GEBE, because gebe has a Board and a Management over which all of U had no jurisdiction. U were going to come up with your own motion??? Is this your own motion??? However in the meantime we are still getting high bills, when will we get the Relief promised by u. If Gebe fails to react, this will be another long outdrawn situation. WE WANT OUR RELIEF NOW. Not in 2014, just before the Election. NOW RIGHT NOW.
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08-09-2011 04:35 |Unregistered| carnival man

people just another game to buy time in delaying the socall relief ,if it was to implement on the people it woulda been done asap without delay .by 2014 election time all the caring for the people will come in play again and for one month of campaigning all you will get some relief and 200$ to pay the bill...oh if it cost more than 200$ you have to put the rest ..200$ is the max paid out to buy vote
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08-09-2011 07:16 |Unregistered| Dragabat

A PROMISE IS A COMFORT TO A "FOOL" ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-)
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08-09-2011 09:04 |Unregistered| WISE OR WACKY

Minister Franklin, Minister Theo Heyliger, Minister Sarah Wescott Williams, Parliamentarian Gracita Arrindell you CROOKS and GANSTERS you all can:

a) Fiddle as much as you want,

b) LIE through your teeth as long as you want,

c) And have all of the fun you are enjoying now,

But at the end of the day the suffering people will ANALYZE and a**ESS if they are really getting any RELIEF since you all hold public office after 10.10.10.
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08-09-2011 11:25 |Unregistered| SMH

hmmmmm new tariffs? How will the fuel clause (price) factor into this change? After all if you mess with the fuel you messing UP people money. Food for thought
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08-09-2011 11:25 |Unregistered| citizen

The Minister and his entire cabniet government officials are playing with the emotions of the country. with all the agendas that they are putting up only when something stands a chance of being beneficial to them they react. The truth is that they will try to reduce the rates for now but when the company starts to struggle they will try to off load it to there benefit to a private firm that will turn around and increase the prices 2 fold on on us and then our good ministers will say its a private company as all the other big companies in the world and they have bills to meet that has forced up the price and we the public will say we were better off with GEBE. People you have the internet Google international bills then put 60 to 40 % to 60% on the cost as we need to account for transportation to our island of the fuel remember for of the high A/C users your bill will not be average if the A/C running from 30/40 in the afternoon till the next morning you leaving for work.
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