The call for a public statement was repeated by at least one talk show host following last week’s Lucelec press conference, which failed to provide the answers to reporters’ questions. However, Government sources say they will not make any such statement at this time without the benefit of the advantage of the report and its recommendations, which will be delivered to Government on October 5.

Much has been said about the comment by Public Utilities Minister Senator Calixte George to the effect that the "government’s hands are tied" in the matter. It has been suggested in more than one quarter that government being a shareholder of the company -- and the fact that government runs the country --should empower and enable the Dr Kenny Anthony administration to take effective and immediate steps to protect consumers against what is seen by critics as the company’s monopolistic pricing policy. However, the administration sees it differently. The Prime Minister’s Press Secretary, Earl Bousquet, says "it’s not that easy." He explained: "What we have here is a situation whereby the previous administration introduced a new Act of Parliament to protect Lucelec’s profits margin by legislating a guarantee that the company can do what it has to in order to ensure it achieves its set level of returns on its investment each year. "To ensure Lucelec’s guarantee, the then government did many things. The then Prime Minister (Sir John Compton) fired the Chairman of the Public Utilities Commission (the late Vernon Cooper) and subsequently removed Lucelec from the jurisdiction of the PUC. Further, a new law was passed 1994 and backdated to 1965 to give Lucelec an eighty-year license, which was opposed by the then Leader of the SLP, Mr Julian R. Hunte."

Mr Bousquet continued: "The current Electricity Supply Act empowers the company to charge as it sees fit until the year 2045, and unless that law is changed, the Government’s hands are somewhat tied, as was correctly pointed out by Senator George. "The company has a license that grants it wide powers and exemptions that stem from years of protection and preference that has become law. That license is cast in legislative stone. What this means is that Lucelec is legally empowered to do as it sees fit to ensure it achieves its guaranteed level of profitable returns on its investment, as it is legally empowered to, by law."

The Press Secretary said the Government and the Company "are aware of the public outcry against the fuel surcharge, which the company has promised to revisit, but it must also be noted that fuel costs comprise a considerable amount of the company’s expense relating to the generation of electricity and such costs are beyond the company’s control." He said he felt the outcry "is more about the estimated billing system than the fuel surcharge" but it was "most likely that the review Commission will comment on these features."

On the matter of the Government being a shareholder of the company and therefore being empowered to change things, Mr Bousquet said Government owns "only 12.44% of the shares, with the rest being owned by the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) which owns 12.51%; the Castries City Council (CCC) which owns16.33%; and the Private Sector and members of the general public who own another 13.85%." "The majority of the shares," he said, are with the Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC), which owns 44.87%." According to the Press Secretary: "Arithmetically, one can say that the majority of the shares are locally owned, but this is more about commerce and corporate economics, more about how monopoly companies with legal and parliamentary protection are run, than about a superficial adding-up of figures and percentages." He said Government "hears and understands the cries and complaints of the public, but in this matter the Government has been way ahead in taking steps to protect consumers and at the same time allow the company to operate successfully."

The Press Secretary said it was with this in mind that the Government and the company moved over a year ago to establish the Lucelec Review Commission. "The commission has completed its work and it’s now just a matter of days before that report is received and we would only ask that consumers be that more patient so that due process can take place, in which the Government and the company would have the advantage of knowing what the Commission found and what its recommendations are," he said.

Meanwhile, the Press Secretary says Government’s efforts at Lucelec are "part of a wider strategy of seeking to get a better deal for consumers in all of the public utilities." He said the water sector was "beginning to respond positively to the institutional changes recently introduced after the transformation from WASA to WASCO, with plans on the drawing board for improved services, especially to the north of the island. He also noted "the government’s continuing efforts, through a combination of negotiation and persuasion, to get cheaper and more efficient telephone and communications services for consumers." He said Government was "part of a regional effort towards telecommunications reform and its engagements with Cable & Wireless have to be seen in that light." However, he added, "despite the progress achieved so far through such developments as the abolition of the 5% tax on telephone calls, the lower overseas rates and in reducing the number of zones across the country from eight to three, Government remains committed to abolition of the trunk call system in its entirety."

Said the Press Secretary: "While Government is aware that the company’s main concern has to be its profitability, the Prime Minister has often pointed out that Cable & Wireless has also been hearing and listening to the pleas of the people and the Government for better rates and more services." He continued: "The Government naturally wants the rates to continue going down. But, as a nation, we can also boast of having all the modern telecommunications facilities at our fingertips, thanks to the company’s efforts to keep in touch with telecoms developments internationally, so that its customers here are not left out of the fast-changing world of information technology."