BARBADIANS WILL HAVE to wait a little longer to find out if they will have to pay higher electricity bills as a result of the eight per cent increase in the National Social Responsibility Levy.
This has been disclosed by general manager of the Barbados Light Power Company Ltd Roger Blackman, who said: “We’re still having discussions. As you would have heard there were some meetings . . . with the Minister [of Finance] and we are continuing to have those discussions to understand exactly what will happen, so I couldn’t comment specifically at this point.”
He made the comments on Friday at Government Headquarters where he officially signed a contract with Government to retrofit over 27 000 street lights under the Public Sector Smart Energy Programme.
The project includes the installation of 85 per cent of public street lights with street lights with energy efficient LED lighting and is expected to save Government around $3 million annually initially.
The programme will also include the retrofitting of 13 Government buildings with solar photo-voltaic systems and energy efficient technologies.
It is being implemented in collaboration with the Division of Energy and Telecommunications, the Inter-American Development Bank and the European Commission at a cost of $50 million and is expected to be completed by next year. (RB)
