A bitter political dispute has erupted in Trinidad and Tobago after sitting Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar exposed an internal ‘protected’ list at the state-run Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (T&TEC), triggering fierce pushback from top figures of the opposition People’s National Movement (PNM), including former Prime Minister Keith Rowley. During a Monday address to Parliament, Persad-Bissessar revealed the names of high-profile individuals included on the list, which prominently featured Rowley, Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles, multiple former PNM government officials, and the PNM Tobago Council. The Prime Minister noted the controversy came to light during a government review of operational issues tied to Flavorite Foods Ltd, a firm chaired by ex-PNM treasurer Andre Monteil. She also pointed out a striking omission: no current ruling United National Congress (UNC) politicians appear on the list, implying the roster was curated by PNM-affiliated officials during the previous administration. In a jab at the opposition, she joked that the PNM should launch a GoFundMe campaign to settle their outstanding power bills. The opposition has responded with unanimous, scathing denials of any improper favoritism, challenging the Prime Minister’s claims point by point. Former Prime Minister Rowley, who leads the PNM, flatly rejected any knowledge of the special list, even posting photographic evidence of his most recent electricity bill for his private Goodwood Park residence to prove he has no outstanding arrears. In a public Facebook statement, Rowley emphasized that he and his wife consistently pay all power bills on time for all their properties across Trinidad and Tobago, and he has never requested nor accepted any special exemptions from standard T&TEC billing processes. ‘For the benefit of those who have been misled by your leader, I hope you can read what I said and also decipher the T&TEC bill with particular reference to Payment of April 15 and Net Arrears of 0.00,’ Rowley wrote. ‘I repeat: I am UNAWARE of any list. For those who take that as proof, then please accept my sympathy.’ Marvin Gonzales, the opposition chief whip and former public utilities minister under the PNM administration, has also pushed back hard, labeling Persad-Bissessar’s claims a ‘wicked and monstrous lie’. Gonzales acknowledged that T&TEC does maintain an internal database of high-profile customers including sitting and former government ministers, judges, and foreign diplomats, but clarified the list serves only one procedural purpose: to alert senior T&TEC staff to reach out directly to the customers if their accounts are flagged for potential disconnection or other unusual account activity. Crucially, Gonzales stressed that the customers on the list have no knowledge their accounts are flagged, and the process is entirely internal to the commission with no political interference from outside officeholders. ‘I can personally say for a fact that no one in T&TEC informed me that my account was flagged in this manner and I have consistently paid my bills before and after holding ministerial office,’ Gonzales said, publicly authorizing T&TEC to release his full billing records for the past decade to prove his claims. He accused the Prime Minister of irresponsible fearmongering, arguing she deliberately selectively named only former PNM-affiliated customers while omitting UNC-aligned figures, non-political judges, and other high-profile customers on the list to score political points. He slammed Persad-Bissessar for abusing parliamentary privilege to spread falsehoods and wage a campaign of ‘politics of hate and revenge’ against the opposition. Other senior PNM figures have echoed these criticisms, uniformly denying knowledge of the list and framing the controversy as a deliberate distraction from the current government’s failures to address pressing national issues. Opposition Leader Beckles called Persad-Bissessar a ‘desperate woman grasping at straws’ who is hiding the UNC government’s inability to solve the country’s core problems by manufacturing a fake scandal. ‘Her actions yesterday paint a sorry picture: that of a Prime Minister cowering behind parliamentary privilege and trying to distract the population from the glaring fact that the UNC is unable to address the real issues affecting Trinidad and Tobago,’ Beckles said, adding that she has always paid her utility bills on time and has never needed special protection. Former PNM senator Renuka Sagramsingh-Sooklal echoed the distraction claim, noting that the real issue demanding public attention is the ongoing controversy over the old $100 Trinidad and Tobago dollar banknote, not her personal power bill. Former education minister Nyan Gadsby-Dolly dared the Prime Minister to release public evidence that she has failed to pay her bills, dismissing the entire scandal as the ‘lamest’ political distraction she has ever seen. Former national security minister Fitzgerald Hinds compared the UNC government’s focus on the list to a nationwide public health epidemic, saying the administration prioritizes political chaos over governing the country. Former sport minister Shamfa Cudjoe-Lewis added that she always pays her bills on time and maintains a credit balance on her account, calling the controversy ‘wicked, worthless and weak’ political theater that will not fool the Trinidad and Tobago public.