Activist urges Bajans to show visible support for intervenors

An appeal has been made to all Barbadians who cannot afford even a single penny increase on their electricity bills, to “stand in solidarity” and show support for intervenors attorney-at-law Tricia Watson and David Simpson tomorrow.

The cry is coming from social activist Kevin “Sluggy Dan” Watson who urged all citizens to oppose the Barbados Light and Power’s (BL&P) proposed rate increase in electricity and the Fair Trading Commission’s (FTC) decision to grant the utility company an interim 50 per cent increase. Watson encouraged the public to let the BL&P and the FTC know “we are not playing”.

The hearing continues at the Accra Beach Hotel and Spa, Rockley, Christ Church, and Watson invited Barbadians to turn out tomorrow from 8.30 a.m. to show support to “those fighting for us”.

“If people have the money and their money is nothing to them and they agree with Light and Power charging more, well I am an open-minded person and I don’t have no qualms with anyone feeling differently. If Barbadians feel, ‘Sluggy you are talking nonsense, I could afford a few dollars more’, then I have no problems with you. But what I am saying, I am looking into the mirror and I honestly cannot pay more. So, if people can pay more then don’t come out. If you honestly like me, can’t afford to pay anything more, then you would come out,” he encouraged.

“I don’t even know if I care to call it a protest, I just say let us come out and let these people see we are supporting them for fighting on our behalf and let the people see we are not pleased,” Watson added.

His comments came after the Barbados Consumer Empowerment Network (BCEN) criticised the move as “unconscionable” and “unacceptable” especially “at a time when many Barbadians are facing hardship and all manner of dire economic and financial circumstances”.

The consumer advocacy group which is headed by interim Executive Director Maureen Holder also called for Barbadians to show their disapproval of a rate and “agitate to see more affordable and sustainable electricity rates in Barbados”.

Watson reiterated the seriousness to fight against the EMERA-owned BL&P company’s proposal.

“[I am] 1000 per cent serious. We just went through some of the worse times in the history of mankind, besides slavery and apartheid. . . As we speak, persons are still struggling to pay off debts that dead family members left, whether it is from funerals, mortgages, or whatever bills they inherit. Persons still struggling with those things and then the loss of jobs and then persons still trying to find employment as we speak. There are so many reasons why it is obvious that you couldn’t come after two years of pure horror and ask people to pay more. So how can we not be serious about this? I for sure can’t pay more, I can’t afford to pay anything more on my light bill even if it is 50 cents,” he added.

To the Barbadians too conservative to be vocal, he encouraged that before they prepare to struggle in silence, they should first probe whether the island’s lone electricity company was operating at a loss. He argued that while an individual can logically say they were making a significant amount of money per week and were now making half or none, he enquired about any statistics that can trace any operational losses the BL&P might have acquired.

Equally, Watson also took previous administrations to task for not doing more to incentivise and champion affordable renewable energy programmes that all householders could benefit. It was his view that if the government had started the ball rolling over the past 20 years, by now, the majority of Barbadians would have access to renewable energy and people would have found better and more efficient and cost-effective ways to have small renewable energy panels on their houses.

Watson said: “Even if we ain’t 100 per cent operating the house off it, it would be operating 40 per cent or so. The government could have done that long ago and that would have put severe pressure on Light and Power even more. The government didn’t do that, the government allowed them to do as they feel like.” (KC)