NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (September 3, 2019) — The following is a statement by Mr. Stedmond Tross, Chairman of Nevis Electricity Company Limited (NEVLEC) Board of Directors.

I am here to introduce to the Nevisian public our new General Manager of [Nevis Electricity Company Limited] NEVLEC as well as the Generation Consultant.

Late last year the Board of Directors of NEVLEC commissioned an audit of the operations of NEVLEC and this was done by Dr. Frederick Isaac, a former manager of NEVLEC.

The result of the audit was very alarming to put it mildly. It called for urgent attention and the board immediately took action to ensure that the island continued to have electricity and not to be plunged into darkness. The power station needed immediate attention, as the engines were performing way below the optimum, due mainly to the fact that the level of maintenance was very inadequate.

We immediately reached out to Mr. Elford Felix who has over 40 years of experience in managing power plants. He kindly consented to come out of retirement to assist us and I want to thank him greatly. I believe that all Nevis has already begun to experience the turnaround in the performance of our engines at the plant.

We turned next to our General Manager who will give guidance and oversee the day-to-day management of the company. We therefore advertised far and wide because we wanted to get the very best person available to move NEVLEC forward. We received several applications from places like the USA, Philippines, Argentina, Canada and of course the Caribbean.

After much careful consideration and advice we finally decided on Mr. Gilroy Pultie. He comes to us fully qualified and very highly recommended and is eager to start the work of making Nevis the very best utility company in the world.

He possesses a Bachelor’s Degree in electrical and computer engineering. He also has an MBA with a specialization in finance and he is a chartered accountant as well. He has been a senior manager in LUCELEC, that is St. Lucia Electricity Services Limited, for a long time so you could imagine that it took a lot of negotiation to get them to agree to send him to us. So we want to place on record our thanks to LUCELEC.

The task before him is great but we know that he is up to it and he will bring his vast knowledge and experience to NEVLEC.

We therefore wish him well and welcome him to the Queen of the Caribbean, Nevis.

We want to put on record our thanks to the hardworking staff at NEVLEC and to assure them that everything will get better.