PM chides Vinlec’s late response to social media disconnection falsehoods

Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves has refuted claims made by some person’s on social media, that their electricity was disconnected last week due to arrears of $30 or less.

In a telephone call to the ‘Issue at Hand’ programme on WEFM on Sunday, July 30, Dr Gonsalves spoke about comments that people were disconnected for arrears amounting to as little as $20.

He said such reports are “just not true.”

“I asked the question myself, and they told me no, that’s not true, 20,30,40 dollars, not true,” Prime Minister Gonsalves said.

Since last week, persons on social media have been critical of the St Vincent Electricity Services Limited (Vinlec) for it’s disconnection drive, which is an effort to collect arrears from electricity consumers across St Vincent and the Grenadines.

On Friday, July 28, the company issued a statement stating that “St Vincent Electricity Services Limited (VINLEC) is taking further steps to tackle the issue of outstanding amounts related to unpaid bill balances throughout St Vincent and the Grenadines”.

The statement revealed that less than 2% of Vinlec’s 48,581 customers were affected by power cuts.

The Prime Minister spoke to the frenzy which was generated by what he said were falsehoods on social media.

In his opinion, “Vinlec by way of information, should have nipped that in the bud early,” instead of waiting until Friday to issue a statement.

He said “the fact that the social media frenzy went on, prompted many people to go and pay their bills.”

The Prime Minister stressed that the company should not have allowed a week to pass “with this kind of negative publicity on social media, and on the radio stations.”

“They should have come out early with a statement; the one which they came out with on Friday.”

Last week, online news outlets and individual citizens captured images and videos of long lines of customers waiting to pay their electricity bills.

On Sunday, Gonsalves also spoke of the need for Vinlec to make certain things clear to it’s customers.

“There should be clarity as to when it is, when you get your bill, how much time after that you have before you pay it.”

Vinlec’s CEO Dr Vaughn Lewis also called into the programme on Sunday.