The Tribune

By ADRIAN GIBSON

ajbahama@hotmail.com

PUT frankly, I’m simply sick of the Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC) and I often wonder how much more of this seeming ineptitude as it relates to providing continuous electricity and blatant disregard for the public that we—the people—could handle.

The story of BEC is representative of the various, complicated challenges facing the Bahamas. When one looks at the actors and the plot of the proceeding act, it could be described as a tragedy, as a comedy that has left no one laughing. Ultimately, I believe that the final act will define whether or not the government of the Bahamas is able to solve BEC’s problems?

Should it be privatised and if so should government retain any shares in a new company or none at all? Should BEC be sub-divided into two or more companies? Should BEC revamp its power generation plants to rely on liquefied natural gas or propane? Should/could BEC develop a functional system where persons using renewable/alternative energy sources could sell power back to the grid? Though such systems could be expensive to purchase, how many small-time energy tycoons could potentially be created by such initiatives?

The juxtaposition of the rights and benefits of the unions/workers against the interest of the people—and the fact that BEC is saddled with ancient, inefficient technology—demands a forward thinking solution.

Frankly, Prime Minister Perry Christie should take a look at persons such as former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, former US presidents Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan and former Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew—among others—who have been faced with similar challenges as we are today.

To use BEC as an example, what we are seeing is the collapse of a system that has—for far too long— been propped up by patronage, promises, too much politics and lots of political pandering.

The frequent power outages and amateurish, deplorable customer service is intolerable!

To be quite honest, BEC’s recurrent and sometimes lengthy power faults have left me feeling hot, angry and pondering the value of having a competent, alternate electricity company and/or having an independent power supply (e.g. solar). Daily, outages have left Bahamians with no telephones, email/internet, cooked food, music and, in many cases, unable to work. The island-wide outages earlier this week were no different!

Is BEC in a position to take on BahaMar when it becomes fully operational next year? I highly doubt it. BahaMar can be likened to a little city, requiring much energy and if BEC is struggling to maintain its current electricity supply to existing customers, I’m baffled at the prospect of them being able to effectively undertake the energy demands of BahaMar.

There are times when I think that “BEC” stands for “Buy Extra Candles” as the constant, prolonged failures leave me sitting in the dark, scrambling and feeling around in search of candles or a flashlight or simply using the light from my cell phone. I’ve long had to purchase a battery-operated lamp!

Should I also purchase a camping head torch? Perhaps, that will be better than leaving candles burning around my house right? Really, I ask because no one knows when BEC – with all of its past, unfulfilled promises of efficient, consistent service and dependable generators – will ever get its act together!

I resent BEC’s inconvenience and how, as a company, they are making the Bahamas appear more and more like an archipelagic, trifling little banana republic stuck in the age of colonialism.

Truthfully, what irks me about BEC’s electricity cuts is their utter randomness. As a company, it appears that they have a total disregard for us – the people! I, like most Bahamians, would understand an unavoidable power shortage due to a natural disaster or an accident, but the marathon power failures, several times per day and every day or every other day, is discomforting and annoying. BEC’s haemorrhaging and maintenance issues is virtually unbearable and no one—absolutely no one—is interested in lame excuses.

Why are the lights off for the slightest streaks of lightning and thunder?

BEC’s frequent power cuts and electrical surges have damaged many of its customers’ appliances thus far, leaving those without corporation connections with the off-putting alternative of a drawn-out, tedious reimbursement process.

BEC, it is high-time that privatization is embraced, particularly since it is clear that the company can no longer provide the kind of generation capacity that is required in this highly technological society that demands readily available energy.

As it stands we – its lowly customers – continue to shell out more and more monies on bloated electrical bills, while enduring substandard service.

To be quite candid, the tourist industry cannot survive if the country is in a perpetual state of darkness, while lame excuses about load shedding and poorly serviced generators are promulgated.

Yes, BEC’s union is doing what unions do! Bear in mind, the workers at BEC form an integral and important part of the middle class and whilst we may look on them and call them greedy, they are representative of one of our local success stories, where natives have been elevated to earning more than merely a living wage. That said, the problem is that the salary grab of BEC’s union and the outlandish requests for salaries/benefits have seemingly not abated though the viability of that corporation has become threatened.

The unions in the auto industry in the United States had become so avaricious that their demands became a yoke around that industry, so much so that it became impossible to build cars that could compete with those produced in Japan, Korea and Germany.

Don’t get me wrong...I love unions. In fact, to this day I still maintain membership in a particular union. However, some unions need to understand the times we live in and be reasonable in their demands for compensation and the like.

The fact that BEC has failed to modernise, has failed to right-size its human resource complement and has failed to adjust salaries and benefits means that that corporation is now one of the major impediments to growth in the Bahamas and, furthermore, can so negatively impact the lives of ordinary Bahamians who find that their monthly electricity bills are akin to a second mortgage.

We’re seeing a similar challenge playing out at the Department of Immigration where artificial components of compensation—i.e. overtime—take immigration officers to the point of earning solid middle class incomes. This is quite likely unsustainable and hence the challenge with the work stoppage at the airport this week.

Bahamas Electrical Workers Union president Paul Maynard and I share a barber and usually we would have a debate/chat here and there if we run into each other at “the spot.” However, I thought that Paul’s comment relative to us having a “black Christmas” worked to the benefit of no one. When a union spokesman makes such a statement, right-thinking Bahamians would have to assume that intentional, rolling power cuts are likely to happen and that the recent cuts were acts of sabotage, especially if such statements are made and such outages follow a short time later. Even if it was not an act of sabotage — and I’m not saying that it was — Bahamians will align the statement with that occurrence and draw their own conclusions. These power cuts, coupled with Mr Maynard’s statement, are not good for our economy or for life in the Bahamas. Likewise, the work stoppage at the airport inconvenienced those individuals who contribute to the life blood of our economy was not a bright idea!

I know Leslie Miller and I believe he means well. He has the support of the consumers who have expressed disgust at the ridiculous overtime payments and bonuses some BEC employees have raked in over the years. Yes, he is an interesting and colourful MP and, yes, he can appear to be temperamental at times. However, I truly believe that he’s acting in what he believes to be the best interest of the Bahamian public. However, if the government and the union believe that Mr Miller would not be able to foster a resolution—considering his tenuous relationship with the union—then the fact that the Department of Labour has now become involved could potentially result in a solution. Clearly, this may require some finesse to soothe the exposed nerve ends of the situation on both sides.

NUMBERS INDUSTRY LAYOFFS

The web shop industry was billed as the saviour of the Bahamian economy. What’s more, the legalization of numbers in the Bahamas was billed as an opportunity to augment the national coffers and maintain the employment of Bahamians. None of that has really materialised to date and it seems that one can anticipate that there will be widespread closure of outlets and ongoing attrition in the gaming industry.

As we implemented the historic legalisation on Monday past, we were soon greeted with news of the layoff of nearly 50 persons from Island Luck.

While Craig Flowers and his FML group of companies has promised to intervene in the salvaging of those lost jobs, the bleak predictions portend a scenario that is not as bright as the administration promised, that the industry had guaranteed and that struggling Bahamians continue to await!

RUDENESS AT BAHAMAS FERRIES

Let me begin by saying how pleased I was to read that Bahamas Ferries are now offering freight and passenger transportation on its ferry services to Long Island. Kudos to Bahamas Ferries was taking such a tangible step that would no doubt lend to my hometown’s revitalization and economic boost.

That said, I took a number of electronic items to be shipped to Long Island this week and encountered a man who was perhaps a most disrespectful, rude representative of Bahamas Ferries. This man—a supervisor known as Mr Mackey—was seen to be responding aggressively to customers and, when I approached him to inquire about the fragile items I had to ship and also to ask him if one of the workers could assist me with unloading my boxes—he was flat out rude, seeking to talk over me and expressing by his body language and verbal exchange an utter disinterest in what I had to say. What’s more, though one of the young men wanted to assist, he immediately stopped him stating that no one is allowed to assist customers with unloading their goods and carting them from vehicles to the loading area. In fact, customers—who can get a shipping/moving trolley—are given one of those and told to stack up their own items and get them—in the best way they know how—to the loading zone.

This supervisor has not just spoken to me in a nonchalant, couldn’t-care-less and rude manner, but whenever he was approached by a customer (he was in a freight lifter so one would have to walk up to him to get him to stop the machine) he always seemed unwelcoming.

Frankly, I actually went back to him—once I had attained some decent assistance by the ladies in the office where I discovered fragile items and electronics are kept before shipping—and told him that I did not appreciate his attitude, the way he addressed me and that I would be making note of it publicly and privately lodge a complaint with his employer.

Bahamas Ferries—who have become known for great and timely service over the years—should expect a written letter of complaint from me within the coming days. As a businessman, I sincerely believe that certain employees— if they are not so minded to understand that it is because of the customer that such businesses operate and that the customer is king— could hurt the reputational standing of an entity with poor service, pitiable communication skills or outright bad attitudes. No one is asking for a favour here; when people pay their monies, they expect superior service.