Lindeners protest anticipated increased electricity rates
SOME residents of Linden in Region 10 (Upper Demerara/ Upper Berbice) staged a protest march yesterday over the anticipated increase of electricity rates.
The group of 80 persons marched on the streets of Mackenzie and Wismar and are planning a bigger demonstration tomorrow.
As they walked, the protesters chanted ‘Linden poor people punishing continually’, ‘No increase of electricity’ and ‘Ashni eye pass we’ and said they regretted voting for the Government.
The walk started in front of the Linden Utilities Co-op Society Limited (LUCSL), which buys electricity from Bosai Minerals Inc for resale to Linden Electricity Company, which is responsible for distributing the current to consumers.
A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Parliamentarian Vanessa Kissoon and officials of the Interim Management Committee (IMC) and Regional Democratic Council (RDC) were among those protesting.
Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh has announced that Government will begin phasing in, this year, higher rates aimed at reducing its $2.9 billion subsidy for electricity in Linden.
Delivering his Budget Speech last Friday, he noted that last year’s subsidy was $2.9 billion, the equivalent of 10 per cent of the total revenue of Guyana Power & Light (GPL).
Consumers in Linden claim they pay between $5 and $15 per kilowatt hour (kwh) for electricity while customers on the GPL grid are charged an average of $64 per kwh.
Region 10 Chairman Sharma Solomon has challenged the Government to justify the impending tariff increase, in light of what he said is a bad investment climate in the region, which has led to low wages and limited job opportunities.
He said the whole idea of the protest is so that the Government justifies on what grounds it wants to remove the subsidy.
The Regional Democratic Council (RDC), made up of councillors from the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance For Change (AFC), is scheduled to discuss its 2012 budget at a statutory meeting next Thursday.