KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent – Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves paid EC$65,000 to have electricity connected to his private home in Gorse, he told Parliament this week.
“Where I built my house up in Gorse, up in the hills, I choose to go there. Vinlec charged me EC$65,000 to put electricity there. I had to pay them. … Now, if I didn’t have the money, I wouldn’t have electricity …” Gonsalves said.
“So, if we decide to go far in the hills to live, don’t expect the community to pay for you there, though, of course, we have cases where individuals have insisted, because they have a vote, that even though it cost you EC$10,000 – EC$15,000 to take electricity to one person, it must be taken,” Gonsalves added.
Vinlec, the state owned and sole commercial electricity supplier here, has a policy of granting one pole free to facilitate the connection of customers to the grid.
Gonsalves said that almost 100 per cent of all houses and businesses in this country are connected to the national grid.
