The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The head of Bahamas Power & Light’s (BPL) managerial union yesterday blamed ex-chairman, Leslie Miller, and his Board for Nassau’s ongoing power blackouts, and added: “The next two months are going to be hell.”

Clinton Minnis, the Bahamas Electrical Utility Managerial Union’s (BEUMU) president, yesterday came to the defence of Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) and its manager, PowerSecure International, charging that they had inherited a mess from the Government and Mr Miller.

Mr Minnis charged that the protracted negotiations with PowerSecure over the outsourcing of BPL’s management have contributed to the current energy generationa challenges plaguing New Providence, as maintenance was placed on hold.

“They walked in to machines that are ill-equipped with no proper maintainance schedule,” Mr Minnis said of BPL and PowerSecure.

“The maintenance issue was held captive, meaning we couldn’t do maintenance until they concluded certain arrangements with PowerSecure. The Government had everything on hold, and with everything being on hold this is what you get.”

Mr Minnis continued: “Mr Miller and those didn’t have a plan, and even if they had a plan no one moved on the plan, because the Government held up the process.

“That’s how it really played out. This is a maintenance issue, and then our transmission and distribution system has not been properly upgraded and protected.

“Any little lightning storm passing, we have a problem. Our system is very soft right now. We are in bad shape. This summer is not going to be easy. I think they got the approval on the [generation] rentals, but that’s not happening until the end of August.”

Mr Minnis said that while BPL and PowerSecure would ultimately bring improvements to the energy monopoly, consumers weer running short on patience.

BPL and PowerSecure’s first four months in charge of BEC’s operating assets have already seen many of the outages, blackouts and energy supply inconsistencies that occurred under the previous structure.

“The people want reliable power now. Unfortunately, the next two months are going to be hell,” added Mr Minnis.

Mr Miller enjoyed a somewhat rocky relationship with the two BEC unions, having attempted to blame much of the Corporation’s woes on their alleged ‘greed’ over overtime payment, and non-contributory pensions and health insurance.

While many informed observers believe BEC (now BPL) employees should contribute to financing their retirement and healthcare, they also suggested that its main problems lay elsewhere in its aged, inefficient and poorly maintained generation equipment, coupled with a ‘below cost’ base rate.

Mr Miller last week described BPL’s meeting with the private sector as “hot air and elementary rhetoric”, telling this newspaper: “I was most unimpressed.”

He argued that BPL and PowerSecure International were offering no new solutions or anything that Bahamians could not have done, as he kept up his seemingly one-man crusade to undermine the new management structure.

    Mr Minnis, though, accused Mr Miller of gross hypocrisy, recalling how the ex-BEC chairman had sought PowerSecure’s assistance just two years ago.

He said: “He is the one who brought them here and now he is saying that they are a bad deal. When we had a meltdown in 2014, he brought in PowerSecure from North Carolina.

“When they got approved last year, he was shouting that he had brought them here. Now, they’re a bad deal. He’s being hypocritical.”

    PowerSecure signed a five-year management services agreement with the Government to run BPL, the Bahamas Electricity Corporation’s (BEC) newly-created operating subsidiary, on February 9.

Then, on February 25, PowerSecure announced that the Atlanta-based utility giant, Southern Company, would acquire it for $431 million, with PowerSecure becoming a become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Southern Company.

Jeff Wallace, BPL’s first chief executive, resigned suddenly in March for ‘personal reasons’.

Pam Hill, who most recently served as vice-president of retail sales support at Exelon Corporation, a Fortune 150 energy company headquartered in Chicago, was appointed as his replacement.