 As a means of providing further relief to St. Lucia's marginalized population, Minister for Equity, Social Justice and Empowerment, Hon. Joakim Henry, has announced that his ministry is ardently leading discussions with the island's lone electricity provider, the St. Lucia Electricity Services Limited, Lucillec, to make the vital utility available to consumers on a prepaid basis. With electricity being among the costliest of utilities, Minister Henry says thousands of less fortunate households across the length and breadth of the island are forced to grapple with paying high electricity bills on a monthly basis. To help address this situation, Minister Henry says the example of neighbouring Dominica may be worth emulating. According to him, research from Dominica revealed that customers who subscribe to electricity on a prepaid basis have better overall management of their consumption patterns, leading to significantly lower disconnection rates. As a matter of fact, they're moving from almost 10,000 to 50% of the population in Dominica is now consuming electricity on a prepaid approach. Poor persons, the incident of disconnection is not as it is in St. Lucia. It's obvious that when persons can decide as to how much they're going to put to their electricity, they consume accordingly as against just having total connection and you only discover what you're consuming when you receive the bill. Speaking against the backdrop of the announcement of the Flow Home Communications Bundle, an initiative negotiated between the government of St. Lucia and telecommunications provider Flow that will benefit approximately 5,000 less fortunate households. Minister Henry went further and announced that Flow had given the commitment to seriously investigate the idea of introducing solar-powered modems for the most marginalized households in society. It means therefore that receiving a flow bundle, even if it's $20, but it is also powered by solar energy. It means that it's not connected to the grid and even if you're unable to have electricity once your phone has energy, you can still be online. This is the initiative that puts the principle of equity at work. It is this initiative that says that whether you live in Capistit or you live anywhere else in St. Lucia, that you have access to information instantly at all times and you can compete on equal footing. Minister Henry says all will be done by the Ministry of Equity to ensure that the most vulnerable in society are the two beneficiaries of these and that the badly needed government interventions. Lucia Lake is expected to roll out the prepaid electricity concept for vulnerable households during this fiscal year.