RIC: No plans to up WASA, T&TEC rates

There are no immediate plans to increase the rates for water and lights for residential, commercial or industrial customers. So says chairman of the Regulated Industries Commission Dr Anne-Marie Mohammed. She was speaking yesterday at a ceremony at the Ministry of Public Utilities, Elizabeth Street, St Clair, where six people received their instruments of appointment to serve on the board of the commission for two years. Mohammed said she had one more year to serve. The chairman said the commission was awaiting figures from both WASA and T&TEC before making any determination on a rate increase. The process was delayed as the commission did not have a functioning board between 2010/2011. She said during that period a “draft determination” of WASA and T&TEC’s application for rate increases was reviewed and the commission now had to “align, economically, the new rates/upcoming rates.”

According to the commission’s Web site, between April and June, some $317,362 was awarded to customers in rebates or compensation. Appointments were also made to the T&T Postal Corporation (TTPost) board.  Its deputy chairman Harry Bisram said it has not achieved its goal to be independent of central government. Financially, he said, the corporation has been facing competition from the online market but a business plan has been created to possibly look at turning around TTPost’s financials.“Given the structure we met at TTPost when were appointed in 2011, TTPost is ‘still heavily dependent on the treasury.’ A large part of that dependency is due to the Universal Postal obligation—I would guess that is about 60 per cent of TTPost operations.”
“TTPost is facing a lot of competition from the IT sector. A lot of people are not using mails any more, you can buy online,” he explained. “The business has been affected—there are challenges. 
“I would say that we have stemmed the tide over the last two years.”