Member of Parliament George Pantophlet says that the people of St. Maarten will consider it a happy occasion when their electricity bills are reduced.
On the front page of one of the Daily Newspapers of Friday October 28, 2011 it read "Historic agreement signed for Gebe shares transfer, 100 percent to St. Maarten by January 12, 2012. The Member of Parliament hopes that this will soon reflect a reduction in the electricity bills. He is also awaiting the new energy policy. Minister of Energy Theo Heyliger had promised on September 28, 2011 in a newspaper article and he quotes; "St .Maarten will have an energy policy within 30 days that will be aggressive in changing the energy outlook for the island, with a goal of realizing 20% of electricity consumption from renewable energy sources in the next two years" end of quote. Perhaps the new energy policy is intended to coincide with the signing of this historic agreement. What is noteworthy however and let he quotes the October 28, 2011 article; "St. Maarten with its 92 percent share in Gebe will buy out Statia’s 4.5 percent for 9 million dollars and Saba’s 3.1 percent for 6.2 million dollars, with financing coming from Gebe St. Maarten, which is in a financial position to commit 15.2 million dollars end of quote. (27.3 million guilders) Then his question is why was the motion presented by the National Alliance during the 2011 Budget discussion in July 2011 to reduce the fuel clause by 50% for six months rejected by the members of the coalition? For all intents and purposes one could see based on what is mentioned by the Minister that Gebe was well capable at that time and now of reducing the fuel clause without affecting their cash flow or payment to their creditors. He will be asking the Minister for all correspondence that was sent from March of this year relating to Gebe. The Member of Parliament also hopes to get a copy of the agreement that was signed on Thursday on the division of shares. As he said before he hopes it reflects a drastic reduction in the electricity bills that are burdening the entire population of St. Maarten. It will make for a Merry Christmas and a truly Happy and Prosperous New Year.