Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC) Executive Chairman Leslie Miller questioned the government’s plan to cut BEC bills by 40 percent, compared to what it was in 2012, claiming that the outgoing BEC board has already gotten the government more than halfway there.
Miller was contacted for comment following a statement by Deputy Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis that there will be a 40 percent reduction in electricity bills “immediately” after a management deal with PowerSecure is finalized.
“We should expect a decrease in our light bills of at least 40 percent from what it was in May 2012,” Davis said last week.
But Miller told The Guardian that electricity bills have already been reduced by 30 percent since that time.
“I don’t know [how] they arrived at those calculations,” Miller said.
“I know for a fact that since we’ve taken over BEC back in July of 2012, the cost has gone down significantly, around 30 percent since we took over. Much of that is due to the lower oil prices... over the last six months.”
This month crude oil prices stood around $60 per barrel, compared to 2012 when oil prices were more than $100 per barrel.
“I think the board has done an excellent job of bringing down the cost,” Miller said. “It’s already around 30 percent from when we took over.”
He said he doesn’t know how the government or the management company is going to further reduce the cost of electricity so soon.
The government announced in April that it selected PowerSecure International to manage the transmission, distribution and generation of electricity at BEC.
Asked how BEC would be able to cut bills, given the state of its aging infrastructure, Davis, who has Cabinet responsibility for BEC, said a reduction in the cost of electricity is among the requirements for the agreement.
“It’s because of the manner in which we have negotiated the management contract and what we have required and also because of some of what we have been able to negotiate in respect of the legacy debt,” he said.
“The legacy debt will be replaced by a rate reduction bond, the cost of which would not negatively impact our desire to reduce the cost as I’ve explained.”
Miller said that it’s a “slap in the face” that the board has been kept in the dark regarding the negotiations surrounding BEC’s management deal.
“It bothers me that the board has not been, even today, officially informed of anything relative to BEC,” he said.
“That to me is a slap in the face, especially when the prime minister in his budget address indicated that they are going to put in a competent board.
“I’m sure whoever wrote that speech for him didn’t have the slightest idea of what the competency is at BEC, so I would forgive him for that.
“But to me that was a slap in the face to the board and the chairman, that you would talk about the competent board.
“We saved the Bahamian people in excess of $15 million in overtime since we have been there… And we also cut down on the theft.”
When PowerSecure assumes management of BEC it is expected that the current board will be dissolved.
It is unclear who will be appointed to the new board. Davis said that decision will be finalized this week. The government is also expected to finalize its agreement with PowerSecure this week. One of the terms of the deal calls for the establishment of an entity, which will be known as Bahamas Power and Light Company, Davis said. BEC’s operations and assets, with the exception of its land holdings, will be transferred to that entity.
Bahamas Power and Light Company will be owned by BEC.
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