State agencies owe the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (T&TEC) $2 billion.

This revelation was made yesterday in the House of Representatives by Public Services Minister Marvin Gonzales in response to questions from Princes Town MP Barry Padarath.

Gonzales said the debt owed to T&TEC by state agencies totaled 1,932,407,304.18.

He added that it is also worth noting that T&TEC is indebted to the National Gas Company (NGC) to the tune of $6.16 billion for the supply of natural gas.

Regarding the steps taken by T&TEC to recover this debt, Gonzales said the Commission has a debt collection policy aimed at reducing the volume and amount of debts and increasing the recovery rate. “The policy provides for aggressive monitoring of all delinquent accounts and establishes a clearly defined process for the collection of delinquent accounts, beginning when an account becomes delinquent and continuing until the debt is collected,” a he declared.

Specifically regarding state agencies, each public sector agency that owes more than $1 million is given a written notice of the amount owed on its utility and electricity accounts, providing details on the age of debt by account number, he said. He said meetings are held with the general manager, operations manager and/or commercial director of T&TEC and very large public debtors to secure payments or to arrive at payment plans.

Gonzales said there is also collaboration between the permanent secretaries of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Public Services to ensure that adequate budgetary provisions are made to address these expenditures. He also said monthly calls were made to government ministries and agencies seeking payment of electricity charges owed to T&TEC.

Regarding T&TEC’s $6.16 billion debt to NGC, Gonzales said this was because T&TEC did not have sufficient revenue to pay for natural gas from power producers to produce electricity. electricity. He said the Ministry of Finance was also required to make substantial annual payments for a previous liability relating to national gas supplied by the NGC to T&TEC which had not been paid.

Asked by Padarath whether the government had made the decision to pay its debt to T&TEC before imposing the new electricity rates recommended by the RIC, Gonzales said the policy was to continue to engage with all debtors and that it had nothing to do with the work of the RIC. to determine appropriate rates.

The price review is still complete

before the Cabinet

Responding to a question from Couva South MP Rudy Indarsingh on whether the government had accepted the RIC’s recommendations regarding the increase in tariffs, Gonzales said the RIC’s recommendations to increase the tariffs of electricity for industrial, commercial and residential customers were still under review by the Cabinet. He said he could not give a timetable for when the review would be completed since the matter was still before the Finance and General Purposes Committee of Cabinet. In due course, the public will be informed of the recommendations made to the Cabinet, he added.

Asked by Indarsingh whether the Cabinet had taken the decision to suspend the decision on rate increases until after the general elections, Gonzales replied: “It’s the PNM, every day is an opportunity for us to deliver a good governance to the people of Trinidad and Tobago. . All they (the UNC) care about is the elections and as long as they are, we will continue to provide stable governance for the people of Trinidad and Tobago.