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Who is telling the truth, Sam Hinds or this pensioner?

Jul 23, 2012 Letters

Dear Editor,
In the newspapers of today 22nd July 2012 there is a letter from a Linden pensioner captioned “I disagree with the concept that we should pay the same rate as Georgetown”
From his letter I have determined the following 1. Sam Hinds says that the government pays 43 dollars per KWH to the entity which generates electricity at Linden on behalf of the Lindeneners  2. Sam Hinds says that the annual subsidy for electricity for the people of linden is G$3 billion. 3.Sam Hinds tells us that the consumption of the second tier of house hold electricity usage in the rest of the country is around 150 KWH per month. 4. I saw Sam Hinds on TV telling the public that the cost of generating at linden is more like 80-90 cents per Kilowatt. 5. The retired Lindener says that whilst the entity is charging the government only 43 cents per KWH they made a huge profit on this generation in the past two years of 119 million G dollars. 6. The retired Lindener also tells us that if we in Georgetown are prepared to accept 40% losses due to the incompetence of GP&L and pay for it in our electrical bills without protest we are welcome to do so, but the Lindeners object to that scenario.
So let’s do the math, three billion dollars @ 43 dollars per KWH is 69,767,442 KWH [sixty nine million seven hundred and sixty seven thousand four hundred and forty two kilowatt hours] the 2002 census tells us that in the municipality of linden there are 14,344 males and 15,158 females a total of around 29,500 people.
If we use a low four persons per household and divide it by the 30,000 people living there we establish that there are approximately 7500 households in the Linden municipality.
The Prime minister is therefore telling us that the people of Linden use 9302 KWH per year or 775.193 KWH per month, compared to the national second tier users average of 150 KWH per household.
Now either this retired Lindener or Sam Hinds is not telling us the truth. In his letter this retired Lindener tells us that his retirement package “includes”150 KWH free electricity. If true this means that he is being deprived of his legitimate pension! There may therefore be legal consequences to this situation since if indeed free electricity was part of the compensation for living and working in Linden, then this government is reducing the income of these people perhaps illegally and the people of Linden are being punished for not voting for the PPP in 2011.
I will not mention what the outcome would be if the CCJ ultimately rules that this was legitimate compensation for Lindeners and the PPP executed three people for demonstrating to demand what was legally their right. This matter has got to go to court as a class action suit and to hell with any calls for a Commission of Enquiry.
This on the surface means that our Prime Minister is a master of fiction. Now if he was writing cowboy books that would be OK, but he is discharging a public function on our behalf and he is obligated by his oath of office to tell us the truth.
Tony Vieira

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