The high cost of living and the shortage of supplies are crippling our people while the Anguilla United Front (AUF) and the Anguilla United Movement (AUM) are locked in a debate about who is getting what salaries and benefits. While this is happening, the people of Anguilla are struggling to survive. Fellow Anguillians, much better can be done. A caring government is NOW needed to deliver a better way of life for ALL of the people of Anguilla. The DOVE Party is ready to deliver for the people of Anguilla.
The high cost of electricity, food, gasoline and diesel and the unavailabily of a reliable supply of potable water is causing much pain and hardship to the people of Anguilla. This situation is untenable. Apathy is setting in among our people as they become disillusioned with politicians. The public has every reason to feel this way about the AUF and the AUM, they have failed all of us. When the AUF formed the government, their focus was on themsleves, their families and their cronies. The current AUM government operates the very same way. Their focus is on themselves, their families and their cronies. We the people get the crumbs if any are left. The DOVE Party cannot and should not be held to this low standard of leadership seen in the AUF and the AUM. The DOVE Party commits to an open transparent government void of corruption and cronyism and self-centered behavior. The DOVE party has already committed to a 50% cut in the salary for ministers. Additionally, the ministers in a DOVE Party government will not be assigned government vehicles. The thinking behind this is simple, Anguillians cannot afford the high cost of running this island at this time. The people of Anguilla deserve the best. Our people need jobs, good paying jobs. Our young people need skilled up and have good prospects for meaningul employment. Our people need good affordable health care and good affordable health insurance. Our workers need good retirement benefits.
The DOVE Party does not speak of initiatives to deliver a better life for the people without laying out a workable plan of action. While there are a number of economic transformation solutions put forward by the DOVE Party in recent times, this article will focus on how a renewable energy lead transformation will deliver a much improved way of life for ALL Anguillians and people living in Anguilla.
Anguilla is blessed with bright sunshine and gentle breeze throughout the entire year. These are the conditions necessary for using solar and wind as sources of renewable energy. These technologies have proven effective in many countries around the world. The cost of rolling out these sources of renewable energy continues to fall as the demand for them grow and more suppliers enter the market and the products are manufactured in much larger quantities. To this end Anguilla is well positioned to transition away from the predominant use of gasoline and diesel as the two main sources of energy. The motivation to move away from using gasoline and diesel in large measure has to do with the increasingly high price of these products and how they both contribute to the very high cost of living on the island.
With the payback (time taken to recover investment) of solar energy around 4 – 5 year based on current prices of gasoline and diesel, a compelling case can be made for Anguilla to move to using solar energy. When one examines how Anguilla can benefit from using solar and wind energy, it begs the question why was this not done a few years ago. Well, better late than never. The following benefits will be derived by moving to the use of renewable energy:
• Hundreds of new well paying jobs will be created in the renewable energy industry.
• The price of electricity to consumers will drop by up to 70%. e.g. A person paying $200.00 per month for electricity can see their bill go down to $60.00 per month.
• The price of groceries will drop by 15 – 20%, as one of the biggest expenses to supermarkets is their electricity bill. Supermarkets use electricity for the freezers, coolers, lights, air conditioning, computer systems, security systems and cash registers. When the price of electricity drops by 70% they will no doubt pass on some of the savings to consumers.
• Electricity is one of the biggest costs impacting hotels. With a dramatic reduction in the price of electricity, hotel owners will be able to lower prices for consumers, pay staff better wages and/or hire more staff and have staff work more hours if the demand for labour warrants it. This will come as a result of the significant cost savings that will be derived from the use of renewable energy.
• With the water challenge now facing Anguilla, the biggest expense to converting sea water to potable water is the cost of electricity. With a dramatic reduction in the price electricity, water can be processed at a very low cost. This will dramatically lower water prices for household, commercial and agricultural use.
• Government and by extension tax payers will be better off as well. Government’s electricity bill will be dramatically reduced. This will no doubt translate into lower taxes on citizens. Additionally, it would allow for all schools on the island to be air conditioned making for a more comfortable learning environment for our children.
• One other notable benefit of moving to renewable energy, is the opportunity to then move away from using gasoline powered vehicles and move to using electricity powered vehicles with energy from the sun and wind. Currently Anguilla is spending between $65 million – $105 million per year on gasoline and diesel. By moving to electric vehicles, we will see a dramatic reduction in the amount of money leaving Anguilla for diesel and gasoline and the cost of operating vehicles reduced by over 50% of current cost.
As you could see by now there are compelling reasons why we in Anguilla should move to using renewable energy. It is unfortunate that neither the AUM nor the AUF saw the need or the opportunity to move to using renewable energy. Way back in 1991 Sutcliffe Hodge of the DOVE Party started advocating for a gradual move to using solar energy but was ignored by the powers that be over the years. There is a clarion call now and a compelling case to move to using renewable energy.
Our people deserve to have a lower cost of living. Our people deserve better paying jobs. Our children deserve a more comfortable classroom environment. Our businesses deserve more affordable electricity. Our citizens deserve to pay lower taxes to the government. Our people deserve leaders who can deliver a better way of life for Anguilla and Anguillians. Our people deserve to move quickly to using renewable energy. Our people deserve the leadership of the DOVE Party. The DOVE Party is ready to deliver for the people of Anguilla.
May God guide us all and may God bless Anguilla
(Published without editing by The Anguillian newspaper.)
