Subsidies keeping down cost of electricity but Norton wants them gone

Without subsidies, the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) would be forced to increase electricity rates, but Opposition Leader Aubrey Aubrey Norton Friday said he supports the discontinuation of any and all government subsidies to the power company.

His comments come one day after Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo said that subsidizing fuel costs for GPL was part of the government’s plan to keep electricity costs down and shield Guyanese from global increases for key commodities.

Utility bills were kept stable, Jagdeo reminded, with a US$70 million subsidy spent on fuel with further plans to cut current electricity costs by 50 per cent in another year.

But on Friday, Norton, while saying subsidies should be given to vulnerable citizens, also outrightly called for subsidies to agencies like GPL and the Guyana Water Inc. (GWI) to stop.

He said these entities should be made to be economically viable. But Jagdeo explained that should Guyanese be asked to pay the utilities at the true cost for production, it would put more pressure on their pockets.

Norton argued it was a case of poor management.

“The objective will be to make them economically viable so they don’t become a burden on the nation’s resources,” the Opposition Leader said.

He called for a “clear plan to move the agency from being subsidized to being financially viable”, and proposed to have that plan which will at the right time be backed by the necessary studies and tests.

Norton said, however, that it is his belief that while not all citizens, the vulnerable should benefit from subsidies in their utility bills. He will not support discarding subsidies to some categories of citizens and households.

“What we will not allow is an abuse of it,” Norton said.