Phillip Paulwell, addressing the House of Representatives on Tuesday
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Opposition Spokesman on Energy Phillip Paulwell has lamented what he sees as the lack of movement by the government to improve the energy sector.
During his contribution to the Sectoral Debate in the Lower House on Tuesday, Mr Paulwell charged that the government has been ignoring the many suggestions to lower the cost of energy.
He said the cost of electricity is directly linked to the high cost of living now confronting Jamaicans.
Mr Paulwell is calling for bold steps to reduce the cost of electricity.
It was no longer prudent to be granting a twenty-year licence to operate the national electricity grid, he declared, adding that it should be no more than ten years, "and, in fact, I would be satisfied with a five-year licence."
"I would also like to sugges that this right of first refusal that the JPSCo now has, which gives them the right to put on new generation, without contemplating other suppliers, that that right be abolished, and that all future generation be done by international competitive tendering," he said.
Additionally, he's urging that operators within the country's Special Economic Zone be allowed to provide their own electricity, "and to supply within the Zone."
Mr Paulwell also called for provisions to facilitate a revolution in rooftop solar, with special licences including feed-in tariff as incentives as opposed to the net billing licensing which currently obtains.
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