The Tribune

The Consumer Protection Commission’s chairman last night promised to investigate the “double” and “triple” energy bill increases many consumers are now experiencing as a result of Bahamas Power & Light’s (BPL) post-Matthew billing practices.

Jerome Gomez told Tribune Business that while “no complaint has been lodged with us”, he would contact the utility monopoly over its efforts to cure “under-billing” for the September-October 2016 period.

Tribune Business can reveal that BPL estimated customer bills for the September-October month due to Hurricane Matthew’s passage and subsequent restoration efforts, which occurred around the time meter readings are normally taken.

With meter readings back on schedule, BPL is now discovering that it under-billed or under-estimated customers’ energy usage for that month - in some cases by hundreds of dollars.

As a result, it is now seeking to reclaim or recover these sums by adding them to the monthly bill for the October-November period, which is due to be paid in December.

This has resulted in many consumers experiencing a “doubling”, or even “tripling”, of their bills above normal and/or expected levels, causing potential cash flow and financial problems for some Bahamians in the run-up to the Christmas period.

The issue was exposed when one Tribune employee contacted BPL after receiving the highest-ever light bill for a property where they have been resident for 10 years - higher even that bills for summer 2008, when oil prices were over $140 per barrel.

A BPL customer service staffer confirmed to the Tribune employee that the record bill had resulted from under-billing for the September-October period, and the utility had merely added the sum outstanding from that month to the October-November bill.

Other Tribune employees complained of a “doubling” or “tripling” of their energy bills for October-November, and social media has been alive with complaints from angry Bahamians about the situation.

“Wow. I’ve got to put out some feelers,” Mr Gomez responded, when informed of the issue by Tribune Business. “That is strange, and did they make an announcement that they have that issue?

“I will give the chief executive [Pam Hill] a call. I will definitely look into that. I’m going to get my bill as well. I will look into it.”

BPL’s bills show it also appears to be applying October-November’s higher fuel surcharge to the outstanding amounts for September-October, rather than the lower amount charged then.

Many Bahamians are thus likely to question whether BPL is seeking to recover some of its multi-million dollar Matthew restoration costs by hiking their bills, and doing this without explicitly saying so.

It is also unclear whether BPL can seek to recover in future bills sums that it has failed to charge customers for in the past.

Dionisio D’Aguilar, the FNM candidate for Montagu and a former director of BPL’s parent, the Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC), said the situation was “a tough one” and presented a dilemma for both consumers and the utility.

However, he said BPL had “failed” to warn Bahamians that they might experience a substantial hike in their bills once meter reading resumed.

“What they would probably argue is that all hands were on deck to effect restoration and repairs from the hurricane, and they didn’t have sufficient meter readers to go around and give meter readings,” Mr D’Aguilar told Tribune Business.

“Now, having completed all the energy restoration and repairs, they’ve got all the meter readers back in the car and are getting a true reading. And, in some cases, it’s coming in as a whopping big bill.”

Given BPL’s dire financial position, due to consistent annual losses of $20-$30 million, and the poorly-maintained state of its key infrastructure assets, the utility desperately needs every cent due to it - hence its desire to correct the September-October ‘under billing’.

Mr D’Aguilar, though, questioned how BPL’s September-October bills could have been so heavily under-estimated “unless they did it for a reason”. He argued that the estimates should have been off by 10 per cent, not 50-100 per cent.

“How did they estimate these bills, and how could they be so wrong and under bill so significantly, unless they made a decision to forego and help people recover from the storm? How could they be so completely off-base?” he told Tribune Business.

“Now that period is over. We’ve given you a break in terms of your bill; the honeymoon is over. It is a billing catch up.”

He added: “The way they’ve failed is they first of all didn’t alert the consumer that they were giving them a break. If they did, bear in wind you’re getting walloped now, and if the intent was just to estimate the bill, how could they be so wrong as to be off by 100 per cent, 50 per cent.

“You’ve just thrown your customers into a dither, especially those that want to remain current.”

Mr D’Aguilar said the situation again highlighted the need for BPL to move rapidly on the introduction of pre-paid meters, so that lower income Bahamians were not “trapped in the disconnection cycle”.