From its inception the St. Kitts Electricity company Limited (SKELEC) has operated independent of the government and have never received any supplemental income from the Government. The company was able to generate its own revenue and to use this revenue for operating its business.
With the recent increase in the price of fuel, and the inability of SKELEC to recoup the rising costs using the legally appointed measure of the Fuel Variation Charge (FVC), the company has been unable to meet all of its costs. This has hindered the company’s ability to function, including carrying out timely repairs on its generators as well as adequately preparing for the upcoming hurricane season.
As SKELEC strives to be a leader in the utility industry in the Caribbean, and to increase the reliability of service offered and the profitability of the entity, there are a number of areas such as the tax status which needs to be addressed. This has been raised repeatedly including submission papers, but without any response.
SKELEC is expected to provide quality service to the community, and as a company we are focused on doing so. However, this is difficult to achieve when the revenue source of SKELEC is impeded by Government entities not paying their bills as well as SKELEC not being reimbursed in full for work performed.