A suite of temporary generators imported to help ease the Bahamas Electricity Corporation's (BEC) burden ahead of the peak summer months will cost nearly $8 million according to BEC Chairman Leslie Miller.
Speaking at the Rotary Club of East Nassau on Friday, Miller said that BEC had recently finalized a deal with temporary power generation company Aggreko to supply 40 megawatts for a six to eight-month period, but stated that BEC could well extend the duration of the contract, if required.
"The board just agreed to award a contract to [Aggreko] for 40 megawatts of power. It's going to cost us, I think, $7.8 million for a 30-week period that we've rented that equipment for but we may go further," he said.
Aggreko, the world's largest temporary power generation company, has previously rented units to BEC during difficult summers. Miller argued that Aggreko's equipment would relieve BEC's dependence on its considerably fuel inefficient Blue Hills plant, which could in turn provide sizable savings on fuel and reductions in customer bills in their July bills.
"Now because of the amount of fuel that those generators use, it is much less than what we use at Blue Hills, so we'll end up with a net savings of about $4.5 million, and we intend to ask the government to let us recoup our cost for the generators out of that, so that we don't have to pay anything.
"The Bahamian people are still going to get a reduction in their bill. So even with the costs we'll be paying, we'll be saving even more money instead of using Blue Hills and that's what we intend to do," Miller said.
Despite reports of noticeable drops in electricity bills from some BEC customers, many have questioned why BEC bills have not closer reflected the global drop in fuel costs. While oil prices rallied somewhat last month, the cost of Brent crude oil for May delivery dropped to $54.43 per barrel late last week, with U.S. crude for April delivery falling to $43.96 per barrel. However, Miller has argued that BEC is unable to capitalize on low fuel costs, and therefore bring adequate relief to customers because it is unable to enter a long-term fuel contract until the government announces the new management partner for BEC.
Baha Mar
Miller also addressed concerns about Baha Mar's impact on the already volatile BEC grid, restating his belief that BEC would be able to accommodate the mega resort's needs when it opens its first hotel on Friday. Although Miller pointed out that Baha Mar has been on BEC's grid for some time now, the resort's power needs will jump sharply as its three other hotels come on-stream. Baha Mar is expected to contribute between $2.5 million to $3 million a month to BEC.
Miller told Guardian Business last month that BEC is additionally upgrading four of its engines in preparation for Baha Mar's launch this week. While Miller earlier stated that those upgraded engines are expected to provide an additional 20 megawatts of power at full speed, BEC does not expect to complete the upgrades until early May.
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