By Ketricia Finch
St. Kitts Reporter
Nevisians faced with proposed rate increases by Caribbean Cable Television thought they were way too high for basically the same channels they were paying less for before.
The Nevis Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has directed that the television company suspend their rates from March 1, 2007 until the commission determines reasonable rates. More recently, the rates have been reduced to where they were before the increase. So we asked Nevisians:
How do you feel about the government putting a hold on the cable TV rates?
Lornette, Day Care Worker – Thank God they reduced the cable bill! I’m just coming from the cable place now. I use to pay $115 per month because there was nothing showing sometimes on cable. Other times you can’t enjoy one good channel. The best of the channels were Discovery, the animal channels, the weather and the news. Honestly, I didn’t see how that was fit rising. I thank God that it gone back down. I just ask them how much the next bill would be and they said the same thing that I just paid so I thank God for that.
Dada, Postman – Cable TV was charging too much money and it was the same channels that were showing over and over again. It didn’t make any sense to pay extra. I like the fact that they put back down the rates to where they were before. I have two houses. The house where I have my kids has television, but the other one does not have cable. I use DVD movies.
Casval, Mechanic – I don’t have any cable in my house but according to the complaints I heard, I agree 100 percent with the idea of reducing the high rates of cable TV.
Buns, Four Seasons Hotel – I think the government should look into a lot of things. They need to look into the current thing and the cost of living on a whole including food. Somehow I don’t see why the cable bill should rise and we weren’t seeing any channels worthy of being paid for because it was the same channels we were getting all the time; nothing different, nothing better. Why they wanted to raise the cable? I really like that they reduced the rates though. They should’ve drop some more off of it too. It’s too high still.
Charlie, Driving Instructor – I’m not sure how it goes but if I understand it right, I feel that the government was not standing up for themselves. In my mind as I see it, they decided to have the increase and then they negotiated after. I might be wrong but if that was the way, they should’ve decided either to have the increase or not. If they came to an agreement, then they should’ve gone forward with it.
A similar situation occurred with the Delta gas. I remembered the other day when they raised the price from $140 to $158. There was a press release saying that government did not give them any permission to do that. I was one who paid $158 and there was a lot of talk about that. One of the employees that work for Delta went on the radio and said it’s supposed to be $140 but nobody could get back their $18. When I went to buy more recently, it was back to $140.
So, if the government don’t negotiate first, we are going to end up paying that cable thing and we are not going to get back a refund. If the government says they were going to leave it as it was before, that’s a good decision, but if they say go ahead and pay it and afterwards they negotiate, then people might not be able to get back their refund.
Sweet D, Night Moon – I think they made a right choice. It was too high before and you still weren’t getting the channels you were paying for. Sometimes the channels don’t show at all.
Mellisa Swaby, Salesperson – I feel happy and I think the government is very considerate. I didn’t even know they carried up the rates. My husband is usually the one who pays the cable bill.
