Energy woe

Paul Hay, Contributor

In The Gleaner's editorial of Thursday, May 12, it mentioned energy was apparently not to be at "the forefront of Mr Golding's strategic thinking during his Budget presentation" and the general "lack of specificity, and only cursory mention of specific initiatives ... that are critical to the creation of a competitive economy".

This failure to address the medium- to long-term initiatives for the supply side of the energy policy is, indeed, puzzling. But, neither were the short- to medium-term initiatives for the demand side mentioned - although it has otherwise been reported that the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has agreed to support the energy-efficiency and conservation programme within the public sector.

It may be recalled from my last letter, titled 'Great move on conservation', published on May 2, that I was concerned about the lack of specificity regarding the implementation of the programme to reduce Government's energy bill by 15 per cent - especially since government buildings are largely energy inefficient. I was hoping my concerns would have been addressed by now.

idb report

Instead, I have all the more reason to be worried. After reading my letter, a friend directed me to an IDB report titled Jamaica Energy Efficiency and Conservation Programme. This document outlines the issues, programme objectives and coordination with country strategy/ programming objectives. It even states: "Preliminary calculations for the programme confirm the potential for energy savings in the public sector of up to US$7 million per year." The problem is that this represents 6.7 per cent of Government's energy consumption, not 15 per cent.

Were the preliminary calculations way off the mark, or did the Government simply disregard this assessment and stuck to its 15 per cent target that was not achieved last financial year? I suspect the latter to be true. If so, there will be a deficit in the Budget of at least US$8 million on this item alone, which is the best-case scenario if close to seven per cent savings is realised. But most likely it will not.

Year after year, we create Budgets but fail to control our expenditure to achieve them. More than likely, our current Budget is destined to such a fate. However, in this instance, failure to control expenditure cannot be attributed to the implementing ministries and agencies but to poor planning and unrealistic expectations.

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