PHILIPSBURG--The Council of Ministers met with the management board of water and electricity company GEBE on Monday to get clarity on consumer complaints about excessively high bills over the lockdown period, amongst other things.
Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs said GEBE gave the government an explanation of the billing system and examples were provided. Also discussed was relief. She said the council was given clear explanations.
“The billing, etc., was also explained in that once we broke it down, we were able to see that GEBE still saw a loss by putting the two bills together and we did ask GEBE to put out more information to the public in a similar manner to which they did to the Council of Ministers,” she said.
“It is clear to us now what has taken place. We also discussed carrying through the savings of the lower fuel cost to the general public and the people of St. Maarten, and based on the fact that [GEBE is – Ed.] buying from another entity that buys in bulk, the price did go down … and in that also it is a bit lower and they will go as low as they can, based on what they purchase it for.”
“The presentation did clarify the situation with the billing and several examples were used showing consumption over a period in terms of what is normal or not normal and highlighting that certain months of the year there is a higher usage as well as the fact that during the period of lockdown people [were] more at home, so usually you are at work some of the time, so of course your consumption will increase.”
The month of May was also said to be a hot month and as a result an increase in use of cooling mechanisms would be seen, which can result in higher bills.
Normal spikes in bills are seen in July and August, which are hotter months, and in December for Christmas.
“The spike was little earlier now due to COVID-19 and if you separate the bills and apply all that has been applied, GEBE actually lost money and did not charge more.”
She said consumers who experienced a spike in their bills that is out of the ordinary, like one of the ministers did, are being investigated to determine whether tampering or stealing of electricity is taking place.
“Several discrepancies were brought forward and for us it is important that GEBE does its own public relations and communicates properly with the people of St. Maarten exactly what they are dealing with and how they came up with the billing. I look forward to seeing GEBE’s [Public Relations] system at work.”
