$24.5 million paid over to CAC for ‘bad gas’ compensation
Published:Wednesday | May 20, 2020 | 10:19 AM
The state-owned Petrojam Ethanol Limited has paid over $24.5 million to the Consumer Affairs Commission (CAC) as compensation for consumers who were affected by the bad gas saga in 2015.
Only persons who would have filed claims that were approved by the CAC will be compensated.
Some 380 motorists stand to be compensated from the payout.
Minister of Science, Energy and Technology, Fayval Williams, has welcomed the move by the board of PEL.
“I hope that this payout will bring closure to this matter and will be seen as the Government making good on its efforts to ensure compensation for the motorists who were adversely affected,” Williams said in a statement, who did not indicate when the payments will be made.
She said the payment of compensation is a sign of good faith by the Government for the affected motorists as neither PEL nor the Government is liable for the incident.
In 2015, motorists across the island were adversely affected when they purchased contaminated fuel.
The Petroleum Trade Reform Committee was subsequently established in 2016 to investigate the ‘bad gas’ reports and propose recommendations, several of which the Ministry has been implementing, to prevent a recurrence of this incident.
The committee's final report revealed that there was “no definitive conclusion” about a “specific contaminant” in the petrol sold to the public between November 2015 and March 2016.
The body was established by former Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell to conduct a thorough investigation into alleged contaminated petrol.
In December 2015, a total of 17 gas stations were ordered closed by the BSJ after Paulwell publicly acknowledged complaints from scores of motorists that their vehicles had been damaged by contaminated petrol.
A fuel-quality report released at the time pointed to illegal mixing stations, rogue gas stations and conspiracies between persons at various levels of the petroleum trade.
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