Philipsburg:--- The Council of Ministers has given GEBE until August 1 2011 to remove its fuel clause from the bills of consumers said Prime Minister Sarah Wescot Williams on Wednesday when asked what are government's plans to tackle the high cost of electricity on St. Maarten. Prime Minister Sarah Wescot Williams said the Minister of Economic Affairs Franklin Meyers sent an instruction to GEBE four weeks ago instructing them to cut out the fuel clause from its consumers bills. She said unless GEBE comes up with a feasible proposal to eliminate or decrease the fuel clause the instruction stands. Wescot Williams said that those are the discussions taking place with government and GEBE but so far she has not seen a feasible proposal from GEBE addressing the fuel charge which according to her is unacceptable as is. She said if GEBE does not provide government with a feasible proposal then the government owned company would have to carry out the instruction given to them. Over the past five years, GEBE did not provide government with its financial statements. Wescot Williams said based on the structure of the company it has made it difficult for them as a shareholder representative to obtain these statements. The Prime Minister said government requested the finances of GEBE when they saw what was reported in the media about the company's profit last year. Government she said wants to know what is GEBE's purpose of such a high fuel charge and building up its reserves. The Prime Minister said it is unacceptable to government the way GEBE is applying the formula to calculate its fuel clause which is passed on to the people. She said the people's salaries and wages do not change in such a way to accommodate GEBE's high cost. She said even though people are trying to decrease their consumption their bills are just skyrocketing, thus government has been quite firm regarding the fuel clause.