SIDF subsidizes electricity cost to consumers

Basseterre, St. Kitts – February 14, 2013 (SIDF) – Mindful of the challenging economic situation, the St. Kitts and Nevis Sugar Industry Diversification Foundation (SIDF) has intervened to maintain current electricity charges for consumers.

The SIDF will bear the six per cent (6%) Customs Service Charge now being paid by the St. Kitts Electricity Company (SKELEC). This Customs Service Charge would have been passed on to consumers and reflected on bills issued in December 2012 as an increase in fuel charge.

The subsidy will be provided for six (6) months at an estimated total cost of EC$3,000,000.00 to the SIDF. Eighteen thousand (18,000) residential and commercial consumers will benefit directly from the SIDF’s contribution. By postponing the implementation date of the increase in fuel charge to consumers, the SIDF has demonstrated its seriousness about helping households and businesses to survive the current difficult economic times.

The primary purpose of the SIDF is to support the Government in diversifying the national economy and maintaining economic stability, and to finance or undertake the development of new and existing industries, projects or enterprises. Since its inception in 2006, approximately two hundred million Eastern Caribbean dollars (EC$200,000,000) has been invested in the economic and social development of the Federation. Of that total, just under twenty-two million Eastern Caribbean dollars (EC$22,000,000) was disbursed in loans to purchase two 3.9 megawatt generators and upgrade electricity infrastructure at Frigate Bay.