Karl James, (left) a director of the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ), listens to Dr. Cezley Sampson, director of national energy efficiency, during the opening ceremony of the PCJ energy efficiency unit exhibition at the PCJ Auditorium on Tuesday. - RICARDO MAKYN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
JAMAICA'S ENERGY policy has been too short-term and needs to focus more on saving than increasing supply, says director of the government's Energy Efficiency Unit, Dr. Cezley Sampson. He called for a new bill to replace the previous 1956 act.
This, said Dr. Sampson, should lay out the industry's structure, the portfolio of the minister responsible and regulatory functions of the Bureau of Standards, the Office of Utility Regulations, the General Electricity Inspectorate and the National Environmental Protection Agency.
Dr. Sampson was speaking on Tuesday at Northern Caribbean University (NCU) in Mandeville, Manchester, during Energy Conservation Month.
He said that "There has never been a sustained national leadership to agree on, and pursue long-term energy policy programmes over the years. Instead, policy initiatives have been stimulated by short-term supply shocks that have led to public concerns about rising prices or shortages of fuel."
ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION
Jamaica's low transportation energy pricing policy and vehicle import liberalisation policy were partly to blame for the increasing demand for fuel, up from 8.17 barrels per person in 1991 to 10.31 last year. And Jamaican's high quality of life means the country has a high per capita electricity consumption of 2458 kilowatts compared to other middle-income countries such as Brazil at 1860 kWh and Costa Rica at 1580 kWh.
"Painful choices" had to be made, he said, between short and long-term goals such as the conflict between offering incentives to encourage energy saving against the need to increase tax revenues.
Taxing and raising the price of gasolene helped to reduce energy demand in many countries, said Dr. Sampson. He noted that party political interest had repeatedly replaced the national interest in debating energy pricing.
Tax as a proportion of fuel costs had fallen over the years and could be raised, said Dr. Sampson, as an energy saving measure to "... signal to consumers to buy more fuel-efficient cars and to use transportation fuel more wisely." Tax incentives, he said, should be offered for electric hybrid cars, diesel and more energy- efficient cars.
