Dear Editor,

It is widely believed that one of the main reasons Jamaica remains so uncompetitive and unattractive for doing business are the high energy costs.

When oil prices rose to well over a $100 per barrel and gasoline prices and other petroleum products skyrocketed, the Jamaican consumers had no choice but to grin and bear it. Now that the price of oil on the global market has plummeted considerably, after a respite, the petroleum industry has been raising the price of gasoline to consumers. There’s absolutely no excuse or justification for this; it should be the other way around.

What really bothers me is the way the country, on a whole, is accepting this. There should be massive, yet peaceful demonstrations all around the country spearheaded by a coalition of the media, university students and faculty, private sector organisations, the church, taxi drivers, and other influential groups. This is clearly not a political issue, it is a national economic issue that affects just about everyone. So why is the country so passive and laid back?

I’m afraid it is this kind of response that has caused the country to be in the quagmire it’s in. The Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) thinks they’re some kind of bully trying to intimidate people. They’re trying to insult the country’s intelligence with inaccurate rhetoric and shouldn’t be allowed to get away with it. Come to think of it, the Jamaica Public Service and the Water Commission, who buy energy from the same source, lowered their rates, so any argument is indefensible.

If Jamaica were a country like the United States, the PCJ chairman would have been called to testify in front of the energy subcommittee in Congress (Parliament/Commission) and would be grilled and embarrassed.

The first order of business should be the resignation of the PCJ chairman. The price of oil is set on the world market. Therefore, when the price goes up the consumer pays more, when the price drops the consumer pays less. Is that so difficult to understand? I shouldn’t think so.

Energy prices affect just about every area of our lives. Asphalt, heavy fuels and diesel oil to the industrial sector; petroleum products and lubricants to the transport sector; and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to the domestic and industrial markets. Who’s looking out for the consumers?

Noel Mitchell

Westchester, New York

nlmworld@yahoo.com