Tax waiver to cut St Kitts and Nevis energy bill

Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Dr. Denzil Douglas

BASSETERRE, St Kitts and Nevis, Thursday June 21, 2012 – The government of St Kitts and Nevis wants to spur the development and use of alternative energy technologies by offering a tax waiver to motivate the public to use of energy-saving technologies.

This was the message sent by Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Dr. Denzil Douglas as he proposed to members of his Cabinet, and got their approval for, a waiver of import duties and customer service charges on a wide-range of ‘green energy’ technologies, including solar photovoltaic panels, hydrogen fuel cells, wind turbines, energy-saving light bulbs, and solar water heaters, tanks, and air-conditioning units.

This move is in keeping of government’s National Energy Policy, which seeks to transform St. Kitts and Nevis into a country where sustainable, clean, reliable and more affordable energy sources are developed and used.

Dr Douglas acknowledged that the government has no control over the price of petroleum-based energy products, but he stressed that a lot could be done to reduce the cost of energy to our local population.

According to government reports, solar panels have already been installed at Government Headquarters, which houses the Prime Minister’s Office, the Attorney General’s Office, the National Assembly and the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Agriculture and Youth and Sports, with the assistance of the Taiwan government.

Taiwan is also assisting with the installation of LED street lighting system on the Kim Collins Highway and on the road to Frigate Bay from the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) to Sugars.

Minister of Housing and Energy, Dr Earl Asim Martin, also said the next set of low-income homes constructed island wide by the National Housing Corporation (NHC) will be electrified by solar energy.

Discussions have also begun on plans to set up a solar panel manufacturing plant in St Kitts. Click here to receive free news bulletins via email from Caribbean360. (View sample)