NIA CHARLESTOWN, NEVIS – Premier of Nevis and Minister of Finance and Utilities, the Honourable Mark Brantley, says the Nevis Island Administration (NIA) continues to make regular payments to the state-owned Nevis Electricity Company Ltd. (NEVLEC) for electricity consumed across government ministries and institutions.
The Premier disclosed this while responding to a question from Opposition Parliamentarian the Honourable Dr Janice Daniel Hodge during the most recent sitting of the Nevis Island Assembly about the amount the Government owes NEVLEC.
“According to the Ministry of Finance of the Nevis Island Administration, the state of indebtedness to NEVLEC as of August 31st, 2026, by the Nevis Island Administration is a cumulative debt since the advent of NEVLEC 26 years ago of $38.5 million.
“So the accumulated debt for electricity usage to NEVLEC as of August 31st, 2026, according to the Ministry of Finance, is $38.5 million.”
The Premier further disclosed that NEVLEC’s records reflected a significantly higher outstanding balance of $62,56,000, an accounting discrepancy of approximately $24 million between the two entities.
“In the interest of accurate information to this House, it turns out that there is an accounting discrepancy between the NIA and NEVLEC. I must advise that we need to reconcile this, because it appears NEVLEC was not crediting amounts paid by the NIA to its usage, but was crediting those amounts only to the fuel search charge.
“And so I have asked the leadership of the Ministry and the leadership of NEVLEC to get together to reconcile the numbers so that we can have a clearer understanding.”
Premier Brantley also explained that the NIA has been paying NEVLEC an average of $500,000 monthly since 2022, when the fuel surcharge was removed from electricity bills for domestic consumers. These payments amount to approximately $6 million annually.
He assured the Assembly that he would provide an update on the figures once the reconciliation exercise has been completed, allowing for a clearer understanding of the outstanding balance.
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