Griev­ing fam­i­lies could soon face high­er cre­ma­tion costs fol­low­ing the Na­tion­al Gas Com­pa­ny’s (NGC) pro­posed 77 per cent in­crease in nat­ur­al gas prices, ac­cord­ing to pres­i­dent of the As­so­ci­a­tion of Fu­ner­al Pro­fes­sion­als of Trinidad and To­ba­go, Kei­th Bel­grove.

Speak­ing with Guardian Me­dia yes­ter­day, Bel­grove warned that the hike would strike at the core of cre­ma­to­ri­um op­er­a­tions, which are al­ready un­der pres­sure from high en­er­gy con­sump­tion, for­eign-cur­ren­cy main­te­nance costs, and strin­gent en­vi­ron­men­tal reg­u­la­tions.

Bel­grove said cre­ma­to­ria re­ly heav­i­ly on nat­ur­al gas, and any sharp in­crease in prices would im­me­di­ate­ly threat­en the vi­a­bil­i­ty of their op­er­a­tions.