In Tuesday's edition of the Trinidad Guardian's Budget 2014 supplement you asked the question "Does Josephine receive subsidised electricity?" (Page 3) to which you responded that electricity was one of the subsidies that she receives.You went on to point out that in relation to the remainder of the Caribbean our electricity charges are the lowest by far. I have no doubts about that.
However, this "subsidy" is blunted by the fact that by paying our electricity bill every two months instead of monthly we in fact contribute well over an extra month in charges ie we pay for 13 months electricity while using the service for 12 months. The "subsidy" is therefore nullified to an extent.
It is simple mathematics. If Josephine pays approximately $700 per bill then she uses approximately 1900 + units a month. Paid monthly, her electricity bill would drop to $280 monthly x 2 = $560 every two months instead of at present $629 every two months.Subsidies are not all that would seem to be. Outside of the above I have found the supplement most interesting.
Dallas Kidman
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