The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) is “really clamping” down on bill duckers who use their ‘connections’ to avoid paying, its chief executive yesterday giving the private sector the impression “there’s a new sheriff in town”.

Dionisio D’Aguilar told Tribune Business that Pam Hill had made a favourable impression on himself and other Chamber members at yesterday’s breakfast meeting, indicating that the ‘new BEC’ will be more transparent and accessible than the Government-run model.

While few specifics were divulged about BPL’s business plan, and how its manager, PowerSecure, plans to turn around the ailing energy monopoly, Mr D’Aguilar said Ms Hill’s arrival appears to herald a “first world” management style.

“The breakfast was very lacking in specifics; it was more tone setting,” Mr D’Aguilar told Tribune Business. “There’s a new sheriff in town, she’s accessible, she gave her e-mail address out and asked people to call her if they have any issues.

“It was a substantial modification in style from Leslie Miller. They’re [PowerSecure] very much first world in the way they do things, not this carry on and ranting and raving.”

Mr D’Aguilar’s comments are likely to be interpreted as veiled criticism of BEC’s former executive chairman, and he indicated that its newly-formed operating subsidiary and management team were already beginning to implement much-needed changes.

In particular, he said Ms Hill informed the Chamber breakfast that BPL was already cracking down on customers who used their ‘connections’ - political and family - to avoid paying their light bills.

“She made the comment that they’re really clamping down on friends, family and lovers,” Mr D’Aguilar told Tribune Business.

“Those who have political connections and insider contacts, and are simply not paying their bill because they don’t have to. They’ve clamped down on that.”

Tribune Business understands that BPL’s ability to cut off non-paying customers with significant arrears, especially government departments, agencies and buildings, was one of the ‘sticking points’ that held up the signing of PowerSecure’s management contract.

BEC’s last audited financial statements, for the year to end-September 2014, exposed just how heavily non-paying customers are weighing on its cash flow and profitability.

The private sector (households and businesses), at end-September 2014, collectively owed BEC a net $82.379 million in light bill arrears.

The gross figure was $178.703 million, but BEC had already provided for $96.324 million of this sum. A further $37.357 million was owed by the Government and its various ministries and departments, taking BEC’s total accounts receivables to almost $120 million.

The Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation’s (BCCEC) breakfast meeting with Ms Hill was closed to the media, but Tribune Business spoke to numerous attendees to obtain an accurate picture of what was discussed.

Mr D’Aguilar, who was present throughout, said Ms Hill coped admirably with everything that Mr Miller and the trade unionists present could throw at her.

Pointing to her Ivy League resume, with stops at institutions such as Dartmouth and Harvard, and a long career in the energy industry, he said BPL’s senior executive was very receptive and non-confrontational in listening to the private sector’s concerns.

“Leslie Miller came at her and she handled it very well,” Mr D’Aguilar told Tribune Business. “The union came at her, and she handled it very well. She was very professional and very impressive.”

He added that Ms Hill offered no specifics on BPL’s recent rate rise proposal, which was apparently rejected by the Christie administration.

“He [Mr Miller] tried to run on about the fact there were a lot of poor people who were already hurting and all the rest of it,” Mr D’Aguilar said of the meeting.

“She [Ms Hill] made the point that the poorest, and lowest, consumers would see a rate decrease, but didn’t say what other customers could expect.”

The Superwash president added that Mr Miller, in keeping with recent-union bashing attacks, also hit out at the existing pension plan, and the fact that BEC staff did not contribute a single cent to their retirement ‘nest eggs’.

This, Mr D’Aguilar said, provoked a riposte from unionist Jennifer Isaacs-Dotson, who the pension plan and union relations were governed by agreements, and the Government could not simply amend them arbitrarily or via threats.

Ms Hill declined to comment on the pension fund issue, saying this was a matter for the BEC unions and the Government to address.

However, in response to a question from Mrs Isaacs-Dotson about whether BPL intended to downsize staffing levels, Ms Hill said she planned to “rightsize” - redeploying staff to areas where they were needed more.

She also acknowledged the ongoing problems caused by blackouts, stemming from BEC’s aged, inefficient infrastructure, and promised to “do her best” to remedy electricity supply reliability.

“Mr Miller would argue that they’re not doing anything different from what he was doing,” Mr D’Aguilar told Tribune Business.

“But he wants to deliver power at a cost that is unattainable. He wants to make out that he’s a champion, but he was driving BEC into further debt.”