Dear Editor

The call for the return of the power generation from Shoreline to government or the private sector should focus on the anticipation that Tonga will have a fairer, more transparent and just power industry. Perhaps service deliveries may improve too. Cheaper electricity is something else and I am afraid it won...’t help to mislead people now that the electricity will be cheaper only by taking it away from Shoreline.

So far, no one has come up with a comprehensive comparison of the financial, technical, social and environmental performance of the power generation and distribution under both TEPB and Shoreline. What we are hearing is that people want cheaper electricity while Shoreline is claiming that they have tried to do this by modernizing the power generation, transmission and distribution with new equipments worth millions of dollars.

I can sympathize with the public cry for cheaper electricity but the fact of the matter is, electricity will never be cheaper than its TEPB days and I very much doubt it will be any cheaper than Shoreline...’s other than the fact that it will be managed in a more business-like, professional and transparent manner. At TEPB, it was 36 seniti per unit (kWh) plus a fuel surcharge. This was a time when the world price for oil was hovering around US$45 / barrel, the pa'anga was strong and TEPB was using aging generators (most were 30 years old). But let us not forget that TEPB at the time has just secured a loan from the ADB to modernize its generators. The ADB loan was then cancelled at costs to the taxpayers because the loan had clauses which would make things difficult for Shoreline in terms of financial and technical performance.

We are at a point in history where the world price for oil is at its highest (US$72/barrel). This is a finite product which is concentrated in the most volatile area of the world (Middle East) where the everlasting wars (Palestine), threats (Iran) and occupation (Iraq) will forever push oil prices higher and higher. President Bush has recently and for the first time admitted the dangers of the US thirst for Mid East oil. Privatizing will not make electricity cheaper as it does not make financial sense to have at least two power generation companies competing in a tiny place like Tongatapu. With an effective regulatory framework in place, setting the power tariff will be more transparent. I can therefore see the removal of the electricity business from Shoreline as good for justice for all and good governance in practice. But to claim that it will make electricity cheaper is undoubtedly misleading unless government is to continue subsidizing it, as in almost all of our Pacific Islands neighbors, by taking money from the people and giving it as a subsidy to whoever will run the power generation and distribution.

With the small size of the Tonga electricity market and its remoteness and considering the current state of the technical, environmental, security and economic considerations surrounding alternatives to oil like renewable energy (and nuclear energy), there are not many options for cheaper electricity in Tonga. The only cheap option is in energy conservation. If you don...’t need it, switch it off. And for Sailosi...’s sake, you don...’t need that 100 W light in the bathroom unless you are reading the bible in there, do you?

...‘Ofa atu

Sailosi Finau

sailosifinau [at] yahoo [dot] com [dot] au