The Tribune

By SYANN THOMPSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

sthompson@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis suggested yesterday that the business community threatened layoffs if they had to pay more for the increase on electricity than the average Bahamas Power and Light customer.

Dr Minnis was responding to Member of Parliament for Englerston Glenys Hanna Martin, who said that it is "immoral" and "unjust" for a family Over-the Hill to pay the same as a billionaire living in Lyford Cay to cover BPL's rate reduction bond. Her comments prompted him to suggest that low-income households may receive some assistance in this regard.

While he did not fully disclose the consultation he had with the business sector, Dr Minnis responded to Mrs Hanna Martin's concerns.

"We would look at that group that needs more help and I will make a formal statement later as to how we would support that group," the prime minister told the House of Assembly. "But I remind you that the sliding-scale we spoke of. I reminded the leader of the opposition that when that was presented to the business sector, we were advised that if that was implemented, there were gross objections and that there would be mass lay-offs, as a result of that we pulled back," said Dr Minnis.

During the debate on the Electricity Rate Reduction Bond Bill 2019, Mrs Hanna Martin told Parliament she believes that it is an injustice when a family living in an inner-city community has to pay the same increase as a large hotel when their consumption of electricity is completely different.

"It is wrong, it is immoral to tax all persons along the same lines. You think the person on Miami Street believes it's stretching when they are paying the same tax as billionaires or millionaires in this country? You think those persons thinks that's stretching? He who feels it knows it, Mr Chairman," the Englerston MP said.

She told parliamentarians that the former administration had a policy for the Electricity Rate Reduction Bond Act it passed in 2015 that would have allowed people to pay the increase based on consumption.

When enacting the new legislation, she asked Dr Minnis if the government would reconsider the payments and allow BPL customers to be charged based on consumption.

"I am asking that the government reconsider an across the board tax and to consider in the alternative. I want to put this for your consideration, it (the PLP's policy) was tiered. The first tier was those consumers who tend to be on the poverty line and the scheme in fact offered for an instant reduction in rates, but as you go up in consumption you begin to tax relatively. So, it was taxed on how much people used per kilowatt hours. That has been universally the underlying philosophy of taxation.

"We do not tax people the same way, it is unfair and so something is wrong with a formula that has Lyford Cay paying the same as someone from Miami Street. I want to use this opportunity to invite the government not do that, but to look at the scheme the former administration had proposed which phased it in at the means and consumption of the grouping," she said.

This week, Minister of Works Desmond Bannister announced that BPL customers will see a $20 to $30 increase in their monthly electricity bills for 10 months starting in 2020. This move is to bail-out "cash strapped" BPL as the government is seeking to raise $650 million dollars for the company that is in desperate need of upgrades and has debt owed to banks this December.

The new Electricity Rate Reduction Bond Bill 2019, similar to the Rate Reduction Act 2015 requires every BPL customer by law to pay the rate reduction bond fee. The new legislation repeals the Electricity Rate Reduction Bond Act 2015. The new bill was passed in the House of Assembly yesterday.