In a recent press conference ELMAR defended its reputation, by proving how busy it is and how responsive. According to Elmar some of these interruptions were caused by kites, helium balloons, traffic accidents hitting the electric poles and one pole that caught fire.
They also admitted that some of the issues are related to lack of maintenance which is this island’s Achilles heel.
Think about it, our collective liability of road infrastructure disrepair, RWZI disrepair, electric grid disrepair, runs in the billions, if we would attempt to set it straight.
But we do not see this reality reflected in GOA’s balance sheets, because maintenance is not a priority here. We collectively pay about 3.5 million florins each day to GOA, to take care of stuff, and when we look around, extraordinarily little gets done. It would be interesting to know how much of GOA’s revenue is spent on actual services such as maintenance.
And we’re not talking about the parliament building or the hundred meters of road in front of the building. I know as a homeowner, if you do not spend money on maintenance, the future costs will grow exponentially!
Unfortunately for all of us, households pay hundreds of florins each month for power they are entitled to receive, yet Elmar is not capable of a truly customer first orientation, because it is there to serve GOA, not us.
How many of you are still waiting for inspection having installed solar panels? How long is that process?
Elmar drags its feet and by doing so protects its monopolistic status. If anything goes wrong, blame others, including the customers.
Our little island has very particular challenges, I am not sure what they are, but I know they exist because of our small size, the distance from the mainland, the need to import everything, the weather, the lack of trained professionals. Elmar is having difficulties to seriously manage our power company, and the difficulties are real, those are compounded by Elmar’s desire to maintain centralized production and distribution and complete control on that segment of our economy.
The only thing they wish to do is bill and collect revenues.
Now, here is the big question: Where is the sustainable agenda?
Why don’t we aim at decentralized generation?
Why is Aruba still heavily dependent on a central fuel oil generating, by another inept company?
