Politicians often live in a bubble – separated from the masses, blind to the trials and tribulations of their constituents. From health care to housing to education, they lead an “other” life, rarely experiencing what the average citizen must go through on a daily basis.
However, some areas of life are universally shared, for better or for worse. Neither status nor wealth can spare the citizens of Jamaica from exorbitantly high electricity bills – not even the country’s Minister of Mining and Energy, Philip Paulwell.
In a recent interview, Minister Paulwell shared that because he no longer could afford the electricity sold by the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS), he personally would be switching over to solar energy to help bring costs down. Equally important, he encouraged all citizens to do the same, offering:
As the minister of energy, I am going to incorporate renewable energy at my home. And if every single person look[ed] at how much you spend, and put aside that money to pay for a solar system, in 7 to 10 years, you would have paid for it… the cost you derive from that is zero…. The Government ought not to be involved anymore in determining what is best. That power should be in the hands of the consumer.
Jamaican Solar Game – You Can’t Win If You Don’t Play
The real story here isn’t simply that a politician (in fact the leading “energy” politician) has embraced solar energy – or that he’s encouraging his fellow Jamaicans to do likewise.
No, the real story here is Paulwell’s assessment of Jamaica’s changing energy landscape.
Even in the absence of government incentives to prop up the country’s burgeoning solar industry, it still makes financial sense to go solar today.
Even in the absence of innovative green policies, grid electricity is already so expensive that one can no longer ignore the economics of solar energy.
Rarely are politicians so attuned to such trends. They usually feel shocks and tremors well after the general population does. But energy is the great equalizer. We all need it. We all pay for it. There is no escape.
Fortunately in a country blessed with high radiation and cursed with expensive grid electricity, solar technology offers a universal solution that essentially democratizes the energy game.
Anyone can play.
This is, at least, the thinking of area resident Leopold Higgins. Like Minister Paulwell, Higgins saw the writing on the wall. But rather than use the pulpit to urge his country forward, he traveled to nearby Florida to receive professional solar PV installation training from US Solar Institute.
Higgins plans to partner with his alma mater to supply high quality, low cost panels to area residents. He comments, “Jamaica will soon hit a wall. Not even our politicians can keep up with rising electricity bills.” He adds, “I agree with Minister Paulwell – fixing this is beyond government. Everyone must do his part.”
