The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas Electricity Corporation’s (BEC) last executive chairman yesterday said there was “no justification” for the ‘base rate’ increase being sought by its successor company’.

   Leslie Miller argued that the new Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) manager, PowerSecure, would take the electricity monopoly “no further” than he and his Board could have, “if that far”.

His comments came amid reports that Pam Hill, BPL’s chief executive, had sought a ‘base rate’ hike from the Government that had been rejected.

“There is no justification for an increase,” Mr Miller told Tribune Business. “These new people are there now and the Government figured that they have all the answers.

“We had our plans in place. By this time, if we would have implemented our plans, the cost of electricity would have gone done by 40 per cent, and that’s without the drop in oil prices.”

He continued: “There was no need for those [PowerSecure] people to be here to begin with. We had the answers. If you want foreign expertise,  you could buy it. You don’t need someone to come here and run anything.

“These people aren’t going to do any better than we were  going to. I  would even say that they can’t go as far as we were going to go. I don’t see the justification at this time for a rate increase with oil prices the way they are.”

Mr Miller said BPL must seek a long-term fuel contract, given that its fuel spend exceeded $300 million annually.

“In addition to that, everyone at BEC  needs to pay half of their pensions and half of their medical insurance, but no one want to touch those things,” he added.

“The unions are happy because overtime has gone up. That was something I dealt with when I was there. A re-gasification terminal was a part of our plan to get Clifton up to scratch.”

The Bahamas Electrical Workers Union’s (BEWU) president, Paul Maynard, said yesterday that BEC’s legacy debt remains an issue.

“They had requested a rate increase. They were talking about it,” he said.

“The problem is the legacy debt. That was supposed to be dealt with. They don’t have any money to operate with.

“Once the legacy debt is dealt with they will be fine but they need cash now.”