BAHAMAS Power and Light customers will pay for the company’s rate reduction bond for the next 20 years to bail-out the company – but the highest increase in electricity bills is only expected to last through 2020, according to Works Minister Desmond Bannister. Mr Bannister, closing debate on the Electricity Rate Reduction Bill 2019 in the House of Assembly, said when the bonds are placed customers will pay the fee for the life of the bond, which is 20 years. However the highest payments will only be the $20 to $30 dollar increase to electricity bills, for 10 months next year. “The proposed rate reduction bond will be longer (20 years) than what is available to BPL in commercial banking markets (typically less than five years). This means the cost of debt service is spread out over time and is eventually outweighed by operational cost savings from the capital expenditure that is funded by the rate reduction bond. This minimises the cost impact on customers and indeed allows customers tariffs to be reduced over time,” he said.

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