The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Deputy Chief Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMAS Power and Light (BPL) Company Ltd’s “increased” billing should have been spread over several months and up to a year to facilitate those Bahamians who are still struggling to recover from Hurricane Matthew, Free National Movement (FNM) Leader Dr Hubert Minnis insisted yesterday as he criticised the electricity provider for “inconsiderate and inhumane” actions.

For last month’s billing cycle, BPL gave an estimate “using the average consumption” because employees were not able to read meters during the first few days of October, as is customary, because of the passage of Matthew.

However many have complained that this month’s billing is higher than normal. Some have even insisted that they have never seen bills so high.

Dr Minnis said this has created the perfect opportunity for the government to intervene on behalf of Bahamians.

“It is inhumane and inconsiderate. They have underestimated the bill and made the adjustments and then they have added that on to people’s bills, which reflects a great increase in the bills. This is a time when individuals are already stressed with the ramifications of Hurricane Matthew,” Dr Minnis said.

“They are stressed trying to repair their roofs, they are stressed trying to replace all of their furniture and essentially all of the interiors of their homes. For BPL to show this inhumane element shows that even the Christie government does not truly believe in Bahamians.

“They try to present themselves as a compassionate group. But obviously they are not a compassionate group if they allow this additional stress and strain to be placed on Bahamians at this particular time.”

He continued: “They could have easily explained themselves and their error and spread the adjustments be it over months or be it over a year so as to decrease the burden on the already stressed out Bahamian population.

“Any compassionate government would have intervened and informed them that no this cannot be done now that Bahamians are suffering already from the ramifications of Hurricane Matthew.”

Last week, Tall Pines MP Leslie Miller accused BPL of “increasing customers’ light bills” in order to pay “millions of dollars” to the “foreigners” who came to assist with the restoration process after Hurricane Matthew.

Mr Miller said BPL does not “give a damn” about the Bahamian people. He said the government should be “ashamed” for allowing the company to disconnect Bahamians for non-payment, when persons are still struggling with the aftermath of a major hurricane.

Mr Miller, former executive chairman of Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC), said he has received dozens of calls from persons who have had their electricity turned off for a month’s payment. BEC was renamed Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) earlier this year.

Corporate Communications Manager Arnette Ingraham also confirmed last week that BPL has resumed disconnections of past due accounts. However, she said the company is only “disconnecting accounts with outstanding balances prior to Hurricane Matthew”.

However Mr Miller said he believes electricity bills have increased in order for BPL to pay the foreign workers who assisted in electricity restoration after the storm.

Deputy Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis has refuted his colleague’s claims saying they were “nonsense” as he stressed that power bills have decreased by nearly 40 per cent since the Progressive Liberal Party took office.

He made the comments while breaking away from his speech at a commissioning ceremony for BPL’s new 6,000 kilowatt stand-by generation plant in Harbour Island on Thursday.

Mr Davis, at the time, admitted that he was “surprised” while reading Mr Miller’s claims in Thursday’s edition of The Tribune, assertions he said misrepresented the hard work the government has done to lower energy costs since 2012.

When asked later by this newspaper about Mr Miller’s continued attacks on BPL since leaving the utility provider just prior to its transition, Mr Davis said he was “lost when it comes to what (Mr Miller) is trying to do.”