PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) — Corporate communications manager with the light and power company, Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (T&TEC), says the the company is projecting a 60 per cent loss in revenue as the restrictions in place for COVID-19 continue.

According to Annabelle Brasnell, in the wake of the pandemic, the decrease in revenue can be attributed to a combination of the business shutdowns and reduced collections.

“It is projected that at the end of April, we would have had a 20 per cent reduction in revenue because of the reduced consumption and a 40 per cent reduction based on collections, a total of 60 per cent reduction in our collections.”

However, she was unable to put a dollar value to the drop in revenue.

“I am unable to share that data at this time. However, 60 per cent is a substantial amount.”

Concerning the reopening of payment centres, Brasnell said that in order to do so “we are currently doing additional infrastructural modifications at the service centres”.

She said the additional infrastructure in the payment centres will help limit contact between the customers and employees.

She also said that despite reports of outages in areas throughout the country, T&TEC was not engaging in load-shedding.

“While more people are home, the consumption of electricity is actually down,” she said.“This is because most business places are closed. Therefore, the question of extra usage does not apply, neither does the question of load-shedding due to insufficient capacity.

“Additionally, we do not have a shortage of generation capacity to provide electricity to meet the current demand. All power producers have confirmed in writing that they have activated all action plans to provide necessary capacity to the commission.”

“Crews are working as normal in all areas, responding to emergencies and completing critical work required to keep the grid stable,” she said.