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Opposition Leader Mark Golding
By Nakinskie Robinson
The parliamentary opposition has responded to the government's recently announced one billion dollar allocation, aimed at dismantling electricity theft in Jamaica.
During his contribution to the budget debate in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, Opposition Leader, Mark Golding called for the decriminalisation of the illegal consumption of electricity in some instances, in light of what he characterised as low earnings and high energy costs.
"We see it as a crucial socio-economic imperative to decriminalize the electricity consumption of the many Jamaicans who cannot afford to undertake the process of regularization on their own," he declared.
Accordingly, he said a government led by his People's National Party (PNP) would "empower these otherwise upstanding citizens to become lawful customers of the utility."
Among the benefits of this approach, he said would be a reduction in the risk of electrical fires "which are so prevalent in these communities."
Furthermore, he said, the proposed initiative would provide a recognized proof of address to open bank accounts and for other processes of inclusion in society.
He also predicted that this approach would serve to reduce the non-technical losses" that pushe up the price of electricity for Jamaica Public Service Company, the country's sole commercial distributor of electricity.
Mr Golding said the planned allocation by the government to cover funding for the first 20,000 new customers joining the Jamaica Public Service Company's prepaid electricity programme, would fall short of making a true impact on electricity theft.
Even as he lauded that effort, the Opposition Leader argued that, based on data from the Survey of Living Conditions, there are one million households in Jamaica but only about 700 thousand residential customers are on the grid, indicating that the need extends to 300,000 households.
He asserted that the Opposition's plan for this important activity is more strategic, by investing in an Electricity Empowerment Programme.
This, he said "will cover the cost for low-income households to regularize their electricity connections (rewiring, inspection and certification), provide the incentive of a credit against their light bills for a period after they become customers, and provide their homes with solar panels to reduce their electricity bills and build climate sustainability."
The maximum fine for stealing electricity is $5 million or 24 months' imprisonment.
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