The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

GB Power Company's critics yesterday pledged "to take our opposition to another level", arguing that Bahamian ownership of vital utility assets had gone "backwards".

Pastor Eddie Victor, head of the Coalition of Concerned Citizens (CCC) pressure group, told Tribune Business that the Government should "have been expanding Bahamian ownership in GB Power" instead of approving its elimination.

Speaking after the Minnis administration approved Emera's $35 million buy-out of GB Power's Bahamian minority shareholders, leaving it as the sole 100 per cent owner, Pastor Victor suggested the Canadian utility was strengthening a 'beachhead' from which it could seek to acquire Bahamas Power & Light (BPL).

"Our Coalition is very disappointed in the Government's decision," he said. "We anticipated that the Government would clearly define the need for Bahamian ownership in a vital utility company.

"How do you reverse a policy begun many years ago to ensure direct Bahamian ownership in GB Power? What the Government has done is take Bahamian ownership in GB Power backwards, and that should never have happened. There should have been an expansion of Bahamian ownership in GB Power."

The Government, in announcing that it had approved the buy-out and de-listing of ICD Utilities from the Bahamas International Securities Exchange (BISX), acknowledged that the deal ran counter to its ambitions of creating a "shareholder society" and enhancing ownership/wealth accumulation for Bahamians.

However, it said there was "no legal justification" for it to intervene in a private transaction where 96 per cent of the Bahamian minority had voted in favour of accepting Emera's offer.

The Government also sought to 'sweeten' any concerns by promising to sell-off its 51.75 per cent majority stake in Aliv, the second mobile operator, to Bahamian investors, and do the same with the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) - although no details on the latter were provided.

Pastor Victor, though, dismissed the Government's statement thus: "To me it sounds like a press statement deliberately deflecting the attention from what is being allowed to happen at GB Power.

"The issue is not Aliv and BTC. The issue is GB Power. We're going to continue our opposition to it. There are some things we have been working on. We'll now have to take our opposition to a new level.

"For us, now that the Government has given approval to this, it only fortifies our belief that our opposition has to be intensified and to take this nationwide. Our opposition will intensify, not by choice but because we have to."

Pastor Victor did not go into detail on the Coalition's planned "intensified opposition", although he has previously gone on record as opposing the renewal of GB Power's licenses to supply electricity to Grand Bahama's East and West Ends, both of which expire in summer 2018.

And he has also backed a Bahamian group that is seeking to obtain these licenses, although GB Power executives have suggested that 'economies of scale' dictate that the electricity supply rights are best left with a sole provider such as itself.

Pastor Victor, meanwhile, suggested that the Bahamian shareholder buy-out was designed to strengthen Emera's position in the Bahamas with a view to ultimately acquiring Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) and its BEC parent.

"I believe that they have an expansion goal for the whole Bahamas, not just Grand Bahama," he told Tribune Business. "This is why they're trying to solidify their footprint in Grand Bahama."

Emera made no secret of its interest in the-then Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC) under the last Ingraham administration. It later teamed with BISX-listed FOCOL Holdings and Wartsila in an independent power producer (IPP) consortium that offered to build, operate and own a new power plant that would supply energy to BEC.

Pastor Victor suggested the Government had feared a protracted legal battle with Emera had it refused to approve the buy-out, but argued that public policy considerations and the Bahamian people's interest should override such concerns.

"There needs to be a firm policy that mandates Bahamian participation and ownership, and guarantees that no utility interest in this country be 100 per cent owned by a foreign company," he told Tribune Business.

"I believe in investors coming in, but also believe in investors empowering Bahamian ownership. I welcome those who wish to invest, but believe in Bahamian ownership and management because it's necessary.

"We have a poverty problem in this country that is expanding, and that means the people in authority have to look at how to empower Bahamians and ensure their economic participation."