标签： Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Amid growing public frustration over sharply rising electricity costs, a new commentary is pushing for radical transparency and regulatory reform for St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ state-owned national electricity provider, VINLEC. As a publicly owned entity accountable to the people of the island nation, VINLEC’s pricing structure and financial practices have come under renewed scrutiny following a wave of public feedback after last week’s initial analysis of the company’s controversial shift from a fuel surcharge to a standing charge.

Following the publication of last week’s analysis of VINLEC’s billing changes, hundreds of local residents reached out to commentators to share their alarm at the rapid acceleration of household energy costs. One resident reported their monthly bill jumping from under EC$400 to nearly EC$600 in just two months – a change that adds up to an extra EC$2,400 annually for already cash-strapped households. In an economy where household budgets are already stretched thin, this increase forces families to choose between paying for power, essential groceries, school supplies, and housing, placing an disproportionate burden on low-income communities.

Many residents have raised questions about the lack of public clarity around VINLEC’s profit levels, with most reporting they have no access to clear financial data about the company’s operations. While VINLEC does publish audited financial statements on its website under the “About VINLEC” tab, the company does not disseminate these documents through mainstream local print or digital media, a practice that falls short of the transparency expected of a publicly owned asset. An examination of VINLEC’s most recent 2024 audited accounts shows the company reported total revenue of EC$175.2 million, with a net profit of EC$13.2 million – nearly double the EC$6.65 million profit it recorded in 2023. By the end of 2024, the company had accumulated EC$125.9 million in retained earnings, held EC$21 million in cash reserves, and held roughly EC$48 million in investments including government bonds and treasury bills.

It is standard for operating companies to generate profit to fund capital upgrades and infrastructure replacement, and VINLEC notes it needs these reserves to replace aging generation engines, power poles, transmission lines, meters, and switchgear – including the equipment that failed at Lowmans Bay in 2024, triggering two island-wide blackouts. In 2024 alone, the company invested EC$20.2 million in new plant and equipment. Notably, VINLEC has not paid any dividends to the national government in either 2023 or 2024, meaning all profits have been retained within the company. But as Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley argued at a recent CARICOM private sector meeting, questioning why private giant Massy could record BDS$49 million in profit while working-class Barbadians struggled to afford food, the standard for publicly owned assets must be higher. Unlike Massy, which is answerable to private shareholders, VINLEC has only one stakeholder: the government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, which means it is ultimately owned by the people of the country.

VINLEC has long maintained it makes no profit from the fuel surcharge, and its accounts confirm that collected surcharge amounts have not exactly matched actual fuel costs over the past three years. In 2022, the company collected roughly EC$510,000 less in surcharges than it paid for fuel. In 2023 and 2024 combined, it collected EC$1.7 million more than its actual fuel costs. Netting out the three-year period, consumers paid roughly EC$1.2 million more in fuel surcharges than VINLEC’s actual fuel expenses. While this gap is relatively small compared to the company’s annual fuel bill of around EC$90 million – and can be partially explained by the timing mismatch between when fuel is purchased and when the surcharge is applied to customer bills – the core issue remains: there is no mechanism to refund over-collected funds to consumers, and no independent body audits the surcharge calculations outside of VINLEC’s annual financial audit. Any overage simply becomes part of the company’s profit, while any shortfall is absorbed by the business.

The root of the problem lies in outdated regulatory framework laid out in the 1973 Electricity Supply Act, which grants VINLEC an exclusive 60-year license to generate and sell electricity that runs until 2033. Electricity rates are negotiated directly between VINLEC and the relevant government minister, with no independent regulatory body to oversee pricing, resolve consumer complaints, or enforce fair standards. Neighboring Caribbean nations including Saint Lucia (2016), Grenada (2016), Barbados, and Jamaica have all established independent utilities regulators, but St. Vincent and the Grenadines has failed to follow suit.

This regulatory gap also impacts the expansion of rooftop solar, which many consumers see as a path to lower energy bills. VINLEC CEO Dr. Vaughn Lewis claimed in August 2025 that net metering – which credits customers for excess solar power sent back to the grid – cost the company EC$2.7 million last year, and that these costs are passed on to all consumers via higher base rates. While the commentary does not accuse VINLEC of acting in bad faith, it notes that as a business that earns revenue per unit of electricity sold, rooftop solar directly cuts into VINLEC’s bottom line, making the company inherently biased against expanding solar access. Rules for consumer-owned rooftop solar cannot be left to VINLEC alone, the commentary argues, introducing competition is the only way to drive fair pricing and innovation in the sector.

Governance gaps are also evident in the structure of the current government cabinet. Trinidad and Tobago maintains a dedicated Ministry of Public Utilities to oversee energy issues and respond to consumer complaints, but in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, energy responsibility is folded into the broad Ministry of Health, Wellness, Environmental Health and Energy. While Energy Minister Daniel Cummings holds one of the heaviest portfolios in government, the placement of energy as the last responsibility in his department’s title sends a clear signal that it is not a top policy priority – despite consumers paying close to 80 cents per unit in fuel surcharges alone.

Past government policy pledges on renewable energy have also failed to materialize. The 2010 National Energy Action Plan released by the ruling Unity Labour Party (ULP) set a target of sourcing 30% of the nation’s electricity from renewables by 2015, and 60% by 2020. As of 2026, VINLEC’s own data puts renewable penetration at just 16-17%. A high-profile geothermal energy project, first promised to deliver 10 megawatts of power by the end of 2017 in a 2014 parliamentary address, has stalled after US$32.5 million was spent by 2019, when exploratory wells failed to deliver viable resources. VINLEC’s 2024 accounts still list a EC$2 million bridging loan advanced by the company to the geothermal project that remains owed by the government.

In July 2025, ULP leaders argued that asking VINLEC to absorb a portion of the fuel surcharge to lower consumer bills was financially unsustainable and would threaten infrastructure maintenance. Yet the one-time subsidy applied to July consumer bills totaled just EC$734,959 – equal to roughly one-eighteenth of VINLEC’s 2024 total profit. In September 2025, ULP leaders publicly questioned whether statutory bodies like VINLEC are being pressured to purchase government bonds to help cover public sector salary costs. This critique rings hollow, the commentary notes, because VINLEC’s 2024 accounts show that outstanding debt the ULP government owed to VINLEC was settled via a EC$25 million government bond issued in 2024 with a 7.5% interest rate.

The opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) implemented temporary diesel tax relief and a VINLEC subsidy to cap fuel surcharge increases when it took office in May 2025, but since that time, the prime minister has only publicly appealed to VINLEC for leniency on disconnections for non-payment, rather than using the government’s power as VINLEC’s owner to enforce policy change. Since the government appoints VINLEC’s board of directors, policy change requires more than public appeals. Speaking at a September 20 town hall, the prime minister acknowledged that state-owned enterprises owe the public greater accountability – a stance the commentary fully endorses, arguing that accountability must start with the electricity prices consumers pay every month.

The commentary stresses that it does not criticize frontline VINLEC workers, and that no one is asking the company to operate at a loss. Instead, consumers are demanding clear, plain-language explanations of where their energy payments go, and a concrete, actionable plan to bring down rising electricity bills.

To address these failures, the commentary puts forward four core policy recommendations: First, the government should require VINLEC to publish its full audited annual accounts in mainstream local media, not just on its website, and tables a full annual report in Parliament within six months of the end of each fiscal year to make the information easily accessible to all members of the public. Second, VINLEC should be required to publish full monthly calculations of the fuel surcharge, including total fuel purchased, the price paid per unit, total units sold, and the net amount of any over- or under-collection, with all over-collected funds refunded to consumers in subsequent billing – a practice VINLEC already followed for years in local newspaper publication. Third, the government should introduce legislation to establish an independent utilities regulator well before VINLEC’s exclusive license expires in 2033, to create an independent body to audit tariffs, review pricing, and hear consumer complaints outside of VINLEC and the relevant government minister. Fourth, the government must publicly outline its plan to replace lost renewable generation capacity, including the solar plant on Union Island that was written off after Hurricane Beryl and the Cumberland 3 hydropower facility that was shut down in 2025, to reverse the current trend of falling renewable penetration.

As the commentary concludes, when any official claims that VINLEC’s profits are none of the public’s business, consumers should remember that the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines are the actual owners of the company. Even when global oil prices fall and fuel surcharges drop, consumers should remain engaged and demand action to update the 1973 electricity law and create independent oversight of fuel surcharge calculations. Right now, no independent actor reviews surcharge numbers before they appear on consumer bills – and that is a problem that cannot wait for reform.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Godwin Friday will depart the island nation on October 9 to lead an official delegation to the 2026 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Group, hosted in Bangkok, Thailand from October 12 to 18. The announcement was made via an official press statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.

Per the statement, this year’s gathering arrives at a critical juncture for the Caribbean small island state, as the current administration works to advance core economic priorities: bolstering macroeconomic resilience, drawing foreign direct investment, and expanding formal employment opportunities for residents. The annual IMF-World Bank gatherings serve as a central global convening space, bringing together finance ministers, central bank leaders, multilateral financial institutions, and global development partners to deliberate on pressing shared issues, including systemic global economic headwinds, global financial stability, sovereign debt sustainability, and accessible development financing for emerging and developing economies.

For St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the statement notes that participation in the meetings provides an unmatched opportunity to engage directly with multilateral institutions that have long shaped the country’s development trajectory. These high-level talks carry particular relevance as the government advances work on upgrading public fiscal management, meeting critical national financing gaps, and securing long-term sustainable support for the country’s core development priorities.

The tangible value of the country’s longstanding partnerships with the Bretton Woods institutions is already visible through ongoing World Bank-backed projects, the statement added. A key example is the Beryl Emergency Resilient Recovery Project, launched to support the restoration of household livelihoods and damaged critical infrastructure in the wake of Hurricane Beryl, which swept across the country in July 2024.

During the week of meetings, Friday has a packed schedule that includes bilateral negotiations with senior IMF leadership, plus separate meetings with representatives from the World Bank Group and the International Finance Corporation. His itinerary also includes participation in three region and small-state focused gatherings: the Caribbean Caucus, the Caribbean Ministerial Meeting, and the Small States Forum. This year, these targeted events center on advancing private sector expansion and job creation across vulnerable small economies.

These side engagements, the statement explained, will create space to deepen discussions on public financial management reform, development financing, investment promotion, and the unique structural economic vulnerabilities that Small Island Developing States (SIDS) like St. Vincent and the Grenadines face. Complementing Friday at the meetings is a cross-functional delegation drawing expertise from across government: Foreign Affairs, Trade, Investment and Diaspora Affairs Minister Dwight Fitzgerald Bramble; Ambassador Kevin Hope, senior advisor to the prime minister with a portfolio covering finance, climate, and investment; Edmond Jackson, Director General of Finance and Planning; Kenrick Morris, Budget Director; and Corporal Desrick Quashie, head of the prime minister’s security detail.

“The delegation brings together expertise in finance, budgetary planning, investment and international relations,” the release noted. Ambassador Hope will lead strategic advisory work and coordinate all engagements with key development partners, including post-meeting follow-up on bilateral agreements and discussions. Senior finance officials will deliver technical input on all fiscal and budget-related topics, while Minister Bramble will support collaboration on international cooperation frameworks and new investment opportunities.

“The Government recognises the importance of managing public resources carefully. Engagement with international financial institutions remains an important part of efforts to strengthen the country’s fiscal position, support sustainable economic growth and pursue opportunities that can deliver meaningful benefits to Vincentians,” the statement emphasized.

To ensure continuity of governance during Friday’s travel, Deputy Prime Minister St. Clair Leacock will serve as acting prime minister from October 9 to October 14. After that date, Nigel Stephenson, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Physical Planning, will take over acting prime minister duties through October 18, when the delegation is expected to return.

Two contrasting quotes open this analysis of St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ current political and economic crisis: a calypso lyric that prioritizes party power over national good, and an ancient observation that some would rather see a nation collapse than cede control. These opposing mindsets, commentator Jomo Sanga Thomas argues, will shape whether the country navigates its current fiscal challenges or sinks deeper into crisis. When partisan interest is allowed to overshadow the national good, SVG faces a turbulent future — and it falls to citizens who prioritize national prosperity to ensure voters receive full, unvarnished facts before deciding the country’s path.

This context is critical to understanding recent remarks by Security Minister St. Clair Leacock, who openly acknowledged the country is “broke” and urged citizens to prepare for fiscal belt-tightening. Opposition members aligned with the Unity Labour Party (ULP), which was ousted from power after 24 consecutive years of rule in the November 2025 general election, have seized on Leacock’s statement to bolster calls for an early return to government, despite the new National Democratic Party (NDP) administration having only completed 11 months of its constitutionally mandated five-year term.

By its very nature, a parliamentary opposition’s core role is to challenge, propose alternatives, and work toward replacing the sitting government within constitutional bounds. For that reason, the ULP’s vocal outrage and aggressive framing of the fiscal crisis is politically predictable, Thomas argues — but it remains unacceptable, given the ULP’s final decade in office, which was marred by corruption, undemocratic practice, and reckless governance that left the nation’s economy crippled long before the NDP took office in 2026.

The ULP, Thomas emphasizes, created the conditions for the current bankruptcy. It cannot be allowed to posture as the solution to a crisis of its own making.

Critics have framed Leacock’s frank admission of fiscal collapse as a sign of weakness from the new administration, but this perspective misses the mark. Leacock’s statement reveals far more about decades of mismanagement under previous ULP governments than it does about the NDP’s 11 months in office. Minor policy shifts implemented by the new government — including two VAT-free shopping days and the hiring of a small number of Vincentians at senior salary levels — are far too small to have drained the national treasury. Any close observer of SVG’s economy knows it has been on life support for well over a decade, with former ULP Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves masking the collapse through reckless borrowing and unsustainable spending to create a false facade of economic stability.

The scale of the fiscal deterioration is staggering: in 2020, SVG’s total national debt stood at approximately EC$1.87 billion. By the end of Gonsalves’ final term on December 31, 2025, that figure had swollen to an estimated EC$3.5 billion, a near-doubling of the national debt in just five years.

The former ULP government has attempted to shift blame for this 87% debt increase to three external shocks: the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 eruption of the La Soufrière volcano, and damage caused by Hurricane Beryl. While it is true that these events required emergency borrowing, as calypso artist Man Sick notes, SVG has no tangible progress or public infrastructure to show for the more than EC$1.5 billion in new debt accumulated under Gonsalves’ watch.

Multiple instances of unaccountable spending and misallocation of public funds paint a clear picture of the ULP’s priorities. During his tenure, Gonsalves openly boasted that his administration borrowed millions from the International Monetary Fund only to distribute the funds directly to political supporters. In 2024, East Kingstown Member of Parliament Fitz Bramble revealed that the Taiwanese government offered Gonsalves US$126 million earmarked for construction of a new national hospital, with no formal oversight requirements attached to the funding.

A Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) analysis found that a US$20 million loan would have been sufficient to rehabilitate SVG’s existing main port to meet the country’s needs for decades. Gonsalves nonetheless rejected this cost-effective option, moving forward with a new port construction project that carried a US$250 million price tag. Other examples of misspending include more than EC$12 million in National Lottery funds wasted on the failed Peniston casino development, and EC$7.6 million in pre-election handouts ordered by senior ULP officials between June and October 2025, distributed in a last-ditch attempt to secure a sixth consecutive term in office.

Gonsalves reallocated an initial US$100 million loan from the World Bank and OPEC Fund, which had been specifically designated for hospital construction, to Hurricane Beryl relief — a choice that reflected his overriding priority of holding onto political power, rather than advancing long-term national development. Today, SVG owes more than EC$1 billion to Taiwan, a direct result of Gonsalves’ pattern of unaccountable borrowing for short-term political gain.

This long record of mismanagement puts Leacock’s recent “broke” admission in proper context. It also echoes a warning Gonsalves himself gave during the COVID-19 pandemic, when he acknowledged the country could soon be unable to meet monthly salary payments for public sector workers. Ultimately, the current bankruptcy is the end result of the Gonsalves administration’s decades of profligate, self-serving policy — a far cry from the promised economic takeoff Gonsalves touted before his party’s landslide defeat in 2025.

For voters, this history is not something to be forgotten.

Turning back to the current NDP administration, Leacock’s candor about the fiscal crisis is a necessary first step, but it is not enough to fix the damage. The NDP campaigned for the right to govern on the promise that Gonsalves had prioritized enriching his family and political allies over national progress, an argument that resonated enough with voters to deliver a decisive election victory in 2025. Beyond that critique, the party also promised it would govern more competently and deliver better outcomes for all Vincentians.

Eleven months into the new term, many voters who supported the NDP harbor quiet doubts about the administration’s progress, though they have not abandoned their support for the party. There remains significant public goodwill toward the new government, even if the widespread enthusiasm of the campaign has cooled. Vincentian voters have a long history of giving elected leaders time to deliver on their promises: former NDP Prime Minister James Mitchell won four consecutive terms between 1984 and 2001, and Gonsalves’ ULP held power for five straight terms before its 2025 defeat.

Thomas argues that it is long past time for Vincentians to abandon the habit of passive acceptance that has allowed ruling politicians to accumulate wealth and comfort while ordinary citizens bear the burden of bad policy. While Prime Minister Dr. Friday and his NDP team deserve time to stabilize the national economy and deliver on their campaign promises, voters must remain actively vigilant and hold their leaders accountable, ensuring elected officials serve the public good rather than their own personal interests.

For the moment, Thomas’ message to the public is clear: don’t panic. Next week, he plans to publish a series of policy proposals outlining steps the NDP administration can take to regain momentum and chart a sustainable path toward long-term national development.

Jomo Sanga Thomas is a lawyer, journalist, social commentator, and former Speaker of the House of Assembly of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The opinions expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the editorial stance of iWitness News.

A gathering held in Kingstown on Thursday to mark Taiwan’s 115th National Day quickly shifted focus to a demonstration of cross-nation solidarity, as Taiwanese Ambassador Fiona Fan announced a $100,000 emergency aid package for communities impacted by severe flooding that hit St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) on Monday night.

Fan emphasized that the donation is earmarked explicitly to support local flood recovery and rehabilitation work across impacted areas. “Our thoughts are with every affected family and community,” she stated during the event, adding, “Taiwan stands shoulder to shoulder with you throughout this difficult period.”

Turning to Taiwan’s own developmental trajectory, the ambassador framed the island’s progress as a remarkable transformation: moving from an authoritarian system to a fully functional democracy, and evolving from a fledgling emerging economy to a prominent global leader in advanced technology. She drew specific attention to Taiwan’s unmatched strengths in key high-tech sectors, including semiconductor manufacturing, information and communications technology, advanced industrial production, and cutting-edge artificial intelligence innovation.

Fan also addressed growing global concerns over regional stability, speaking on the critical importance of maintaining security and peace across the Taiwan Strait. She noted that nearly half of the world’s total container shipping traffic transits through the strategic waterway, meaning any unplanned disruption or conflict involving Taiwan would send shockwaves through global supply chains and the entire international economy. “A contingency for Taiwan would be a contingency for the world,” she emphasized, reinforcing the global stakes of regional peace. She further asserted that “Taiwan’s sovereignty rests in its people.”

Moving to the long-standing bilateral cooperation between Taiwan and SVG, Fan outlined a wide range of joint development projects spanning agriculture, infrastructure, public safety, and education. In the agricultural sector, she explained that a targeted young farmers training initiative has already equipped 75 local Vincentian farmers with specialized skills in sustainable crop production, post-harvest quality management, and market-oriented agribusiness. Parallel to that, a livestock development partnership has helped double local pig production while simultaneously raising the overall quality of the national herd.

On infrastructure, Fan highlighted several landmark SVG projects that received key support from Taiwan, including the Rabacca Bridge, Argyle International Airport, and the ongoing modernization of the Kingstown Port. Beyond physical infrastructure, Taiwan has also backed upgrades to SVG’s national healthcare information systems, and supported the installation of 330 closed-circuit security cameras across the country to boost public safety.

In the education space, Fan reported that more than 12,500 young Vincentians have received financial aid through the Taiwan Bursary Programme, and 357 students have earned full scholarships to pursue higher education on Taiwan’s soil.

SVG Governor-General Sir Stanley John offered official congratulations to Taiwan on its 115th National Day, commonly referred to as Double 10 Day, and praised Taiwan as “an international benchmark for democracy, innovation, technology, economic development, and global cooperation.” He noted that Taiwan and SVG share a core set of common values, including a commitment to democracy, social justice, and equality before the law, and described Taiwan’s remarkable technological achievements as a powerful source of inspiration for small developing nations around the world. “May our bonds of friendship endure to the mutual benefit of our two countries,” he said.

For his part, SVG Prime Minister Godwin Friday reflected on his official visit to Taiwan this past August, where he and his governmental delegation received a formal welcome from Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te. “We were welcomed as family by President Lai, and treated as such by everyone that we met during our entire stay,” Friday recalled.

The prime minister shared that the trip left a lasting impression, noting he left thinking less about Taiwan’s impressive economic and technological statistics and more about the warmth and resilience of its people. He offered particular praise for Taiwan’s consistent long-term investment in education, innovation, and inclusive technological development.

Friday also reaffirmed SVG’s long-standing public support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in global international organizations. “We are happy to be your friend … and we will continue to advocate on your behalf in multilateral forums,” the prime minister stated.

He characterized the bilateral relationship between Kingstown and Taipei as a people-centered partnership built over decades through tangible, practical development projects and deep personal connections, particularly through the community of Vincentian students who have pursued studies in Taiwan. “Relationships between countries ultimately become most meaningful when they create relationships among people,” he concluded.