The Tribune

By NATARIO MCKENZIE Tribune Business Reporter nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamas Electricity Corporation's (BEC) accounts receivables have gone down by the "millions of dollars" within the past four months, its executive chairman telling Tribune Business it was more on top of its collections than it has been in the past. Michael Moss said: "Our receivables have been going down in the last couple of months. If I look at the last four months, it has gone down quite significantly - in the millions of dollars in fact. "We are much more on top of collection than we have been in the past. We have engaged some temporary disconnectors to help us with the disconnections, just to make sure we can tackle more of the delinquent accounts. The effort seems to have been paying off. As they say, the squeaky wheel gets the oil, so if you are not squeaking people intend to ignore you with their payments." Mr Moss was unable to say just how much the Corporation was owed to date in accounts receivables. Regarding its 2011 financials, he said auditors were expected to provide a draft audit report by the end of the month. According to Mr Moss, the Corporation is on budget for this year. The government launched its third BEC reconnection program on February 9, resulting in some 4,000 having their electricity restored. Mr Moss, though, said the number of persons coming in to have their electricity reconnected has decreased significantly. He told Tribune Business: "The number of persons coming in under the Government reconnection program has flattened out significantly. The numbers are well down from where they were. People are still coming in, but in the 10s and 20s as opposed to the hundreds."