More than eight companies have submitted proposals to take over functions at the Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC), Minister of the Environment and Housing Kenred Dorsett said yesterday.
His confirmation comes just one day before the government looks to have all technical proposals in.
Once that is complete, qualified bidders will be invited to participate in the second stage of the bidding process, which is expected to take place around October 1.
"To ensure that the process is transparent, I have really tried to stay away as much as possible. I do know that some of the companies are companies that are familiar to me and I would assume that they still have Bahamian equity partners in them, but I have been made to understand that we also have some new entrants into the market," Dorsett told Guardian Business when asked if any Bahamian-owned companies submitted proposals to the government.
Dorsett said the exact number of players and who they are will be revealed after Friday's deadline for submitting proposals to the government.
"The last time I had a discussion with KPMG, there were over eight companies that have registered and a few that they said were pending.
The 13th is only a short way away. We will find out what the count will be on the final day."
KPMG Advisory Services, DNV Kema and Hogan Lovells will be evaluating the proposals and making recommendations to the government. The government is also expecting to establish an evaluation committee.
The environment and housing minister was the keynote speaker at the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC) Meet the Ministers luncheon at the British Colonial Hilton, where he outlined the government's plans to reform the energy sector.
On August 13, Prime Minister Perry Christie committed to major reforms of the country's energy sector with a view to decreasing the cost of electricity to consumers.
He announced that after a period of around two years in which it had received a significant number of proposals and expressions of interest from private companies to provide the means to reduce the cost of electricity in The Bahamas,the government would be issuing a new and more tightly defined request for proposal (RFP) to govern the process.
The plan is now to seek the division of BEC into two entities - one that would conduct power generation and another that would be responsible for transmission, distribution, maintenance of equipment and customer billing.
The company that would control power generation would either enter into a joint venture with the government to become a part owner of the generation company, or enter into a management contract, while the company that would have responsibility for transmission and distribution would operate via a management contract.

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