Colm Imbert - Photo by Angelo Marcelle
Public Utilities Minister Colm Imbert has dismissed concerns by Princes Town MP Barry Padarath that the PNM will increase water rates if voted back into government as “ridiculous”.
Speaking at the TT Chamber of Industry and Commerce's annual business meeting on April 2, Imbert outlined the process to change the price of electricity and water.
He said TT was years away from any possible change in water rates.
Imbert explained there are multiple stages in determining what the rate should be for the provision of water or electricity.
He explained the process is “rigorous” and begins with publication by the Regulated Industries Commission (RIC) of its rules, framework and approach to a price review.
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This, he said, is followed by consultative documents which determine how the RIC is going to approach the price review.
“The first thing a utility has to do is to submit a business plan and of course the RIC will look at it, check it, ask a number of questions, do a number of sufficiency checks, determine whether the utility is padding expenses.”
He said although Wasa submitted its business plan in November 2024, the process has not yet moved past that stage.
“The RIC has asked Wasa series of questions and Wasa has not yet submitted the responses. I'm told they'll submit it this week and then there may be another round of discussions between the RIC and Wasa with respect to that business plan.”
Imbert explained there are still several more stages of the price review process.
“After the business plan is accepted, you have public consultation, then you have draft determination, again more public consultation and then the final determination. This could take at least two years.”
Imbert described Padarath’s concerns as “absolute nonsense” before adding, “With respect to Wasa, we're years away from even a determination.”
Imbert used the TT Electricity Commission (T&TEC) and their price review as an example of how long the process can take.
“The RIC completed its review and published the final determination of electricity rates in November of 2023. What you may not be aware of is that process began in December 2020, so it took three years.”
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He said changes to utility rates “do not happen overnight” and added the government made a conscious decision about implementing the change in the electricity rate.
“When we got the final determination in 2023, we decided we're going to take a very long and careful look at it and decide how much subsidy the government is going to get involved in, in terms of electricity. And we're still looking at it.”
