Nevis Utility Minister – Hon. Carlisle Powell
Charlestown, Nevis
May 09, 2008
Junior Minister with responsibility for Utilities in the Nevis Island Administration (NIA) Hon. Carlisle Powell, disclosed on Wednesday May 07, 2008, that the Nevis Electricity Company Ltd.(NEVLEC) the island’s only electricity supplier, would be the sole vendor within Nevis for any from of energy harnessed on the island. He said that the move would enrich the Company and safeguard its employees.
The Minister made the remark at an Achievement Award Ceremony for staff members who were trained in First Aid and a basic Computer course, hosted by NEVLEC’s Human Resource Department. The ceremony was held at the Red Cross Building in Charlestown.
“All of the discussions that we [NIA] have held with the wind power company and with the geothermal company, we have said to them that they will have to sell the power in Nevis to NEVLEC. We are not ever going to give them the right to sell power to individual consumers on Nevis. We want them first of all to enter into an agreement with NEVLEC in terms of the power purchase agreement, to sell the power to NEVLEC and then NEVLEC will unsell the power to the consumers on Nevis.
“We do that because the people who are employed at NEVLEC should not be out of a job. We do that because we feel that when we negotiate a price which will be a fair price to the developer which would allow them to make some profits and which will allow them to see returns on their investment, we must negotiate a price that NEVLEC would be comfortable with “¦and Mr. Farrell [General Manager of NEVLEC] wants to make sure that whatever price we negotiate when we have a price which we unsell to the consumers too that the consumers are saving money and that NEVLEC is also turning a profit,” he said.