The energy consultation on the National Energy Policy, concluded in February was an opportunity to educate the public on the energy sector, said Energy minister, Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan. Responding to her detractors that consultation on the National Energy Policy should not include communities she said:
"It was a great education exercise as well for a lot of the people in the communities we went to, they were happy to learn about the sector and the way it operates. It was very interesting to hear how many of them had their own views coming forward on what they would like to see in the energy sector.
"Some of the concerns raised was how is Natural Gas used to maximise the development thrust of T&T. The Tobago issue, how is energy sector serving the development of Tobago? In Trinidad the same as well," she said. Many of the communities wanted to know the impact of the energy sector on their lives.
By the end of April a green paper on the National Energy Policy is to be put together and placed in the public domain for comment as well as the Parliament. Responding to her detractors that the consultation should not have been taken to various communities in T&T, she said: "Energy is not the domain of a few intellectuals; it's not part of a backroom facility or back room decisions.
She contends that natural resources of T&T belong to the people. Regarding alternative and renewable energy, Seepersad-Bachan said the Government wants to bring that closer to homeowners and to hotels in T&T but, it is still being discussed. "We are trying to encourage many of the big corporations to move towards alternative energy. Also we are looking at energy efficiency because you can't go into renewable without talking about energy efficiency. "I have given a number of incentives for the establishment of an entire industry for development of experts and consulting firms who are able to go into firms and be able to determine and recommend energy saving mechanisms and any of the equipment that they have to buy, the capital spent on that would be 150 per cent allowance. There are a number of tax incentives for energy efficiency and for renewable energy."