Our energy crisis has hit home

Jul 27, 2008 Features / Columnists

– Prepaid meters to gas prices

Peter R. Ramsaroop, MBA, Chairman Vision Guyana

Introduction:

Every reader of this column would have experienced an increase in their cost of living over the last year. We have all seen our electric bill go up significantly, our taxi and minibus fares are still on the rise, and the gas prices to fill our car tanks and cooking oil have increased to astronomical amounts beyond our current budgets.

While our government struggles to stimulate the economy and institute policies that will assist us the citizens in increasing our disposable income – such as reduction in taxes – food prices and other consumable items continue to rise without any increase in wages.

Prepaid Meters – Are you Ready?

We are all accustomed to putting credit in our cell phones. Many times we find our credit has run out, and we tell the other party to call us instead. Imagine,

when you put in $5,000.00 into your prepaid meter for electricity and it runs out, who would you tell to provide electricity for you? These meters will be soon installed by GPL. We all must conserve on our electricity consumption.

Before considering ways and means of reducing your electricity account one should first consider the cost of operating the various types of domestic appliances. GPL has a chart on the cost per item that will help you manage your appliances.

There’s also the possibility of a sudden, untimely cut-off of power if a homeowner forgets to “feed” the meter. One of the unexpected benefits of prepaid meters has been decreased energy consumption.

I believe although conservation is not the primary driver of these meters, a lot of us will have to learn to then manage our energy usage.

Alternative Energy – Why the failure by our Government?

I have written many investment papers and columns on the subject of Economic Diversification – “Sugar to Ethanol”, “Producing Ethanol – a Guyana Product,” and “Guyana an Oil Country.”

I continue to lobby our government to create programs that will fast track investment in this area. The subject of the production of ethanol has become a household word given the need for countries to reduce their dependence on foreign oil.

We should be working on attracting major investors aggressively on an alternative – including the production of ethanol and other alternative sources of energy. Brazil has offered to assist us with the technology since August 5, 2003, when President Jagdeo visited that country.

With the great superpower acknowledging the need for alternative fuel and our small neighbour, Barbados, putting a major portion of its GDP into ethanol production, the largest producer, Brazil offering to assist, why then the resistance by our government?.

What we as consumers and citizens need to realize is that without the right economic and investment policies for the nation, we are the ones that suffer at the end of the day.

A number of government officials have large gas-guzzling seven-seat vehicles, which they travel around in with just the driver.

They do not have to pay for gas, so they are most likely unaware of the current prices at the pump, or the electric bill at their houses are paid for by our tax payers’ dollars, mainly the VAT, yet we are feeling the brunt of the cost of living increases.

Need for duty-free fuel efficient vehicles

I have written about this before and will not stop until we get some reprieve. We are one of the few countries in the world to pay an exorbitant price of government levied duty on new and old cars being imported into our country.

The price we pay for a 1990 version of a Japanese car is equivalent to the cost of an alternative fuel vehicle currently available on the market. Imagine a new Honda Hybrid car gets over 60MPG.

A taxi driver can take a passenger from Georgetown to the airport and back on one gallon of gas.

An alternative run car from Brazil consumes 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. Let’s import these cars from Brazil duty-free.

Conclusion:

Yes, we are an oil country, we have it in our waters, we have it on our lands and we have it in our cultivations.

Our people deserve an opportunity to prosper, we deserve the opportunity to compete in the global market and we deserve to take the jobs that come with these new industries. The politics may be complex, but the technology is straightforward.

There are many ways Guyana can become a fuel producing country, if only our leaders will wise up to the ways of the world and to the benefits of joining the rest of the world on the international economic stage. We are already behind on solving our energy crisis.

Let us not fall further behind because of failed policies, but let the public and private sector come together on a solution quickly.
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