RISING ENERGY costs have always been the reactive trigger for conservation measures which slacken off as soon as oil prices start declining. The Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) was itself established in 1979 as a response to the oil shocks of the 1970s.
This year, for the first time, the country's petroleum bill will exceed US$1 billion. Last year's bill stood at US$934 million which was 15 per cent of gross domestic product. The national oil bill is consuming 65 per cent of foreign exchange earnings.
Last week the head of the Energy Efficiency Unit of the Petroleum Corporation, Dr. Cezley Sampson, pointed to the need for a cultural shift in Jamaica's energy use, the cost of which has become an increasing burden on the economy. He is, of course, correct. But we have been down that road before and wandered off as soon as the perceived crisis waned.
Indeed, Clive Mullings, the Opposition spokesman on Energy, in a fit of excess, claimed in a press release last Thursday that the "spiralling cost of petroleum products was driving the economy to collapse by devastating the productive sector and plundering the poor". The energy spokesman was calling for an enquiry into the Government's pricing of petroleum products and how Government earns revenues from these products.
Part of the cultural shift in energy use will have to be getting used to the fact that there is no returning to significantly cheaper petroleum-based energy, certainly not in the near future. Mr. Mullings' quarrel was with the pricing of fuel from Petrojam and the claim by the Government that it was absorbing 50 per cent of the real price increase.
It may be politically attractive to reduce energy costs by drawing down on the concessionary support which the PetroCaribe deal with Venezuela provides. But such a move would be extremely short-sighted. Such a move now would jeopardise the stated goals behind Energy Conservation Month: Efficient and environmentally-friendly production and consumption, and increased use of alternative and renewable energy.
Private enterprise is better than Government in innovation when the signals are right. The JMA has called for tax credits for energy audits and exemption on import duties for energy-saving devices. Solar water heaters and photovoltaic devices have already been exempted from GCT. Incentives for the private, profit-driven development of conservation measures and for the development of alternative energy sources to supplement our over-dependence on oil would also yield positive results.
The way forward for any serious cultural shift in energy use has to be a wise mix of public information, incentives and penalties to re-engineer private and corporate attitudes and behaviour.
Consumers must play their part in using energy wisely and the Government has a responsibility to stay the course and to maintain a sustained campaign of information and action to increase efficiency.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
