According to official reports, consumers owe the St. Kitts Electricity Department some tens of millions of dollars, which the government says it intends to collect.

The announcement was made via a post Cabinet press release, which stated that the information was obtained from the Electricity Department's Accounts Receivable reports. It said both residential and commercial consumers were in arrears.

"Cabinet requested an update on the accounts receivable or outstanding payments to the Electricity Department and it was revealed that the department has tens of millions of dollars of outstanding money to collect from both domestic and commercial consumers. Cabinet agreed that this situation is highly untenable."

The release said the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Public Utilities have been mandated to "recommend an array of mechanisms" to enforce collection of outstanding sums.

The Observer questioned Electricity Department's Acting General Manager Bertil Brown as to how consumers were able to rack up the enormous debt in light of a functioning billing system and cut-off policy.

He said he could not confirm the figures contained in the government's press release and "would not discuss company policies" regarding termination of electricity supply to those in arrears.

"We send out bills to both residential and commercial consumers and we expect people to pay them," was all Brown would offer. He did confirm that there was an existing policy regarding the cutting off of consumers' electricity in the case of failure to pay their bills, however he would not reveal what if any debt or time limit existed.

In 2005, the cost of electricity rose from $0.37 cents per kilowatt-hour to $0.51 cents per kilowatt-hour. In 2006, government announced the introduction of a fuel surcharge, citing economic unfeasibility in sustaining the subsidizing of rising fuel costs. The surcharge on residential electricity consumption was waived in December 2009.

Residential consumers now pay $0.32 cents per kilowatt-hour, and based on the Department's billing system, have 21 days from the date printed on the bill to pay the amount owed.

The Department is currently contending with supply problems as a result of a damaged 8MB430 generator at the Needsmust Power Station. A six-week period of load-shedding took effect on May 12.

On Mondays, Palmetto Point to Fig Tree will lose power in the mornings, while Calypso Bay to Half Moon and Gibbons to Newton Grown will be affected in the afternoons.

On Wednesdays Canada Estate to Dieppe Bay will be affected in the mornings, and Taylors to Bayfords in the afternoons, while on Fridays Frigate Bay and Cayon will be out of power in the mornings and Sandy Point in the afternoons.

Businesses are being asked to run their generators on Tuesdays and Thursdays.