Miller: Man tried to assault BEC employees with cutlass

Sat, Sep 20th 2014, 09:31 AM

Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC) Executive Chairman Leslie Miller said two female employees of BEC were almost assaulted by a man with a cutlass after they attempted to disconnect an apartment on Wulff Road last week.
Miller said the women called him in distress.
"I immediately called 919 and I went to the scene," he said in the House of Assembly during debate on several anti-crime bills this week.
"I met several young men at the barber shop; I met the two ladies there, really in distress, and the police were there at the same time trying to ascertain what the problem was.
"The problem was simple. The women wanted to check on some of the lights in this apartment complex, and they had determined, in fact, one of the meters, the light was on but the meter wasn't running. There was one meter that other parties had hooked up to that one meter and was getting BEC electricity free of charge.
"When they saw the two young ladies, apparently the man who owned the place or who was involved in it, got his cutlass and went behind them. They really had to run for their lives."
He said by the time police showed up, the man had left the scene and left his girlfriend to explain the illegal connection.
In March, two female employees of BEC were held hostage by a group of men in Pinewood Gardens as they attempted to disconnect a customer's electricity supply.
Miller said such attacks on BEC employees are happening too frequently. He added that illegal connections are also a normal thing in the country.
"BEC loses anywhere from $5 million to $7 million per year in illegal hook ups; people getting free electricity," he said, adding that it may be as much as $10 million.
"These sort of events tells us that these are difficult economic times and people go to great measures in trying to intimidate, belittle and harass those who are only being paid to do their job.
"We have, of course, disconnected the power.
"The bill at the time was some $4,600. It will probably increase to double that because they were on, apparently, since January. This is the normal thing. This is nothing new. Every single day we find units after units, apartments, homes, that are hooked up illegally."
Miller has said that unless the corporation pays off a $55 million fuel bill by the end of the month, the entire "Bahamas would be without electricity".
He said the corporation is in a very tough financial situation.

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