Guardian ( Trinidad and Tobago )
13 May 2023 ( Page 9 )
Lee urges Govt to use extra fuel money to fix T&TEC
KEVON FELMINE - SENIOR REPORTER -
KEVON.FELMINE@GUARDIAN.CO.TT
Pointe-a-Pierre MP David Lee says Government should use the additional
income it earned in the last seven months by overcharging motorists for fuel,
to address financial shortfalls at the T&T Electricity Commission (T&TEC).
He suggested this based on the utility company petitioning the Regulated
Industries Commission for a rate review as it seeks to increase electricity
costs.
At an Opposition media conference at the Office of the Opposition Leader in
Port-of-Spain yesterday, Lee said citizens are paying $0.88 more than they
should for a litre of Super gasoline and an extra $1.57 per litre of Premium
gasoline at fuel stations.
He called on Government to say what it did with the additional income,
accusing it of being dishonest with the country regarding fuel prices. He
charged that there was no fuel market liberalisation as stated by
Government.
“Now you hear Government wants to, through the RIC, increase T&TEC rates.
They want to increase WASA rates. We are saying we have been subsidising
the country at the gas station. Why do they not use some of the money to
offset some of these T&TEC rates they want to increase?”
Lee said Government increased the cost of Super gasoline to $6.97 per litre
and the Premium to $7.75 per litre in the 2023 National Budget last October,
based on a $90 per barrel crude oil price tag.
He said the price increases came as Government liberalised the fuel market,
subjecting motorists to fluctuations based on international oil prices.
Lee raised the issue in Parliament on Wednesday, asking Minister of Finance
Colm Imbert to state whether it had overcharged motorists at the pumps. He
said Imbert, who usually responds to every criticism, has not answered his
question after 48 hours.
Lee recalled that on May 5, Young told the Standing Finance Committee that
Government estimated the oil price to be $80 per barrel. However, fuel prices
remained the same.
“So, based on this admission, the Minister of Energy is clear that going
forward, the fuel price is supposed to drop because they are using an oil price
of $80.
The price of oil right now in the market is somewhere between $70 and $71 a
barrel,” Lee said.
He said the Opposition did not randomly come up with figures on what the
fuel prices were supposed to be when oil prices fell to $80. He said they used
calculations given by Prime Minister Dr Rowley and Imbert in Parliament. He
said in a ministerial statement titled Adjustment to Fuel Prices on April 8,
Imbert gave Parliament a range of prices.
Imbert said the price of unsubsidised Premium gasoline should vary from
$6.18 per litre at an oil price of $80 per barrel to $7.58 per litre at an oil price
of $100 per barrel. With an oil price of $80, people were still paying $7.75 per
litre for Premium gasoline when it should actually be $6.18 “These are
Imbert’s words, not my words,” he said.