Signing of Transition Services Agreement with PowerSecure for Management of The Bahamas Elelectricity Corporation

Wed, Jul 22nd 2015, 05:12 PM

The Government is very pleased to announce that today the country has taken another important step forward towards reducing the cost of electricity and increasing the reliability of power in the Bahamas with the signing of a transition services agreement with PowerSecure, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of PowerSecure International, Inc.

With this transition services agreement now in place, PowerSecure will finalize the business plan over the next 60 days, which will provide specific recommendations regarding how PowerSecure plans to manage the New BEC for the next five years. The government has charged PowerSecure with developing a plan that will create efficiencies which will allow for significant reductions in the cost of energy, increased energy security and reliability, environmental responsibility and increased competitiveness as a country.

Since the appointment of PowerSecure as the preferred bidder was announced in April, both PowerSecure and the Government have made substantial progress in several key areas to lay the foundation for success. Specifically, the PowerSecure team has been on the ground in Nassau and across the Family Islands engaged with BEC management in extensive due diligence to gather key data that will inform their business plan.

These activities have focused on evaluating strategies for enhanced generation capacity, improved transmission and distribution, and the opportunities for the integration of more renewables, particularly solar. The Government has also had very productive discussions with banks regarding rate reduction bonds which are essential to launch the new BEC on a foundation of financial health.

PowerSecure is a public company traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: POWR) and headquartered in Wake Forest, North Carolina. The company operates and maintains approximately 1 GW of Distributed Generation capacity. It reported 98.4% reliability for these systems in 2014, which is one of the best in the industry. Its three-prong operations take in Utility Services (engineering and infrastructure solutions), Power Generation (distributed energy and solar installation and management) and Energy Efficiency (including production of its own LED lighting systems). The company serves many of the largest utilities in the United States.

PowerSecure specialises in Utility Scale Solar Power through its subsidiary PowerSecure Solar; and has provided both solar and storm hardening services to multiple utility customers. Of particular note is its efficient mobilisation of resources for every named storm in the US in the last five years.

PowerSecure has the technical and financial capacity required to manage the New BEC, and we expect that PowerSecure will be able to extract value from the existing New Providence and Family Island generation assets, and that the company can provide the advanced asset management, efficiency retrofits, improved operating schemes, fuel selection and purchasing schemes that are required to set the New BEC on course to profitability. PowerSecure has the ability to manage the building of new, major generation in New Providence; as well as the ability to procure and/or manage the building of renewable energy projects in New Providence and on the Family Islands.

We believe that the new course on energy that has been charted by this Government, and the New BEC, under management direction and supervision from PowerSecure, will significantly improve the residential and commercial customer service experience and set a new standard for excellence in the region.

Our goal remains to deliver to our constituents a 100% Bahamian-owned, world class electrical utility, offering its customers affordable and reliable power, and tremendously improved customer service. Today’s announcement brings the Bahamas one step closer to this reality.

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