The Tribune

By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

PHENTON Neymour, former Minister of State for the Environment, yesterday called on the government to immediately “stop and annul” the bidding process on the proposed break up of the Bahamas Electricity Corporation claiming one of the bidders was “given an unfair advantage.”

Speaking with The Tribune, Mr Neymour questioned why the government would invite Power Secure to determine the cause of last week’s island-wide blackout knowing that the company is a bidder on the management contract for the BEC’s transmission and distribution segments.

He said the hiring of the company is a “knee-jerk” reaction by the government to a major problem that is now brewing at BEC.

“If you have five people bidding house and you only allow one bidder to enter the house to view it... obviously one bidder has an advantage over the others,” Mr Neymour said.

“This is totally unfair. What I also want to know is if KPMG, the accounting firm evaluating the bids, was advised prior to the hiring of this consultant? Were they consulted? Did they provide comment on the hiring and did they approve? Those are very critical issues because if they are not aware and did not approve, then the bidding process is compromised and should be annulled immediately. All bidders should be given a fair assessment of BEC and given the same information.”

Mr Neymour’s comments echoed statements made by unionists and other politicians last week.

The Bahamas Electrical Workers Union (BEWU) was among those questioning whether it was “unethical” to contract Carolina-based Power Secure to assess BEC’s systems, given that it was a bidder on the management contract for the corporation’s transmission and distribution segments.

And Peter Turnquest, the Opposition’s finance spokesman, agreed that “there seems to be some inherent conflict” in the Power Secure engagement, even though it was the only bidder focusing solely on the transmission and distribution management deal.

Power Secure was hired by the government earlier this month to assess the problems at BEC following an island wide blackout on July 3 that lasted nearly 12 hours.

The four American consultants were expected to present their recommendations to the government last Friday.

The company was one of five remaining bidders in the protracted BEC process, which is now at least seven months behind schedule. While it was the only bidder focused solely on transmission and distribution, at least two of the four generation-based bids also included taking over that aspect of BEC’s operations, too, according to Tribune Business.

Mr Neymour also questioned why it took BEC “so long” to restore services after the blackout. He said it is obvious that the generators are in a total state of disrepair which will cause further blackouts throughout the year.

“This is not the first time,” he said, “that we had a complete collapse of the electrical grid. It happened before during my term where this same line failed. Why did it take them so long to return operations to normal? When it happened to us, we did not have the lights off for hours. What is the status of those generators at Clifton Pier and Baillou Hills? Why are we still having problems with our electricity? It is in my view that they are in a poor state and not up to full capacity and that is why it took so long and that is why we will continue to have service interruptions.”

Mr Neymour said he also believes, because of the terrible way BEC is being run, that the government in about 18 months to two years will come to the Bahamian people for a rate increase.

The Tribune attempted to contact BEC Executive Chairman Leslie Miller for comment, but calls were not returned up to press time.