Rajiv Diptee, president of the Supermarket Association of Trinidad and Tobago (SATT) is calling the Regulated Industries Commission (RIC) to make the proposed electricity rate increases incremental and staggered for the benefit of the public.
He made the suggestion during day one yesterday, of the closed door consultations between the RIC and special stakeholders.
The RIC met with the SATT, Farmers Association of Trinidad and Tobago, Fishermen and Friends of the Sea (FFOS) and the Poultry Association of Trinidad and Tobago at Hilton Trinidad.
Diptee, said while his association was not against a rate increase as many residential customers were, it hoped that the public would be given time to afford the increase.
He said, “We are saying any increase should be incremental across a period of years so that it can be absorbed in a more staggered fashion and in a way that would allow the population to come to terms with rate increases as we acknowledge that the cost of living across the board has increased.”
“We said all the same things that people would have raised as concerns in general. We talked to them about efficiency. We talked to them about black-outs. We talked to them about everything that you hear everybody talk about, we spoke about it,” he added.
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