The Tribune

By LETRE SWEETING

lsweeting@tribunemedia.net

SOME local residents, merchants and consumers are calling the new government approved increase in electricity at Bahamas Power and Light “foolishness”.

Yesterday morning Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis announced that the government has approved an increase in BPL’s monthly fuel charge.

The announcement was made at The Office of the Prime Minister along with some BPL officials.

For those with a current monthly bill of $182 or less, this new increase would amount to about $20 per month or two cents per kilowatt hours of electricity used.

Those with higher bills will pay almost double that amount at 4.3 cents per kilowatt hour.

Karen Gaitor, a single mother, said yesterday that this increase makes no sense and the government along with BPL should be trying to make “some sense out of the nonsense”.

“Do something for the people.

“That’s a bunch of foolishness to me. You got mothers out here, being both mother and father to children and what is that going to do for them? The light bill going up, that means that’s another headache they have to worry about.”

Ms Gaitor added, “They are putting too much pressure on us. Us Bahamian women, we are out here day by day and some days you don’t even know if you are going to have something to eat. Come on, have compassion for us. And if you don’t think about us, think about our kids, our future generation.”

Odette Roberts, a straw market vendor, agreed with Ms Gaitor.

She said between her and her husband’s wages, they cannot afford this new increase in BPL’s monthly fuel charge right now.

“BPL needs to stop. We cannot afford that. If BPL coming with foolishness, we need another company and the next company has to deal with us much better than this. Me and my husband, we can’t manage this, we can’t afford this.

“They are not increasing the wages, but we are working.

“These little wages can’t help us. Only God is keeping us.”

Jackie Glinton, another straw market vendor, said this increase will force cutbacks for a lot of Bahamians.

“In this tough economic day and time right now, I feel as though it’s going to be rough.

“Well, I would have to cut back on my fuel (usage). The cost of the salaries haven’t been increased. “A lot of persons are still on minimum wage. It’s going to affect a lot of Bahamians right now.”

She also said, “We’ll have to cut back, like use less, if you’re burning air conditioner then leave it off, cut back, carpool. I was comfortable since I heard the cost of gas dropped and the prices getting lower, but now with the BPL increase, the Bahamian public on the whole will have to cut back on the amount of electricity and fuel that they use on a daily basis.”

Taxi driver Felton Rolle said he understands that due to the war in Ukraine and other world factors that there will be increases in various things, however he said he hopes that BPL would “act responsibly”.

“The government is the final arbiter with respect to BPL. And BPL, they’re the ones who are responsible for it in the final analysis.

“You just hope that the people who are there, act responsibly in their sphere of occupation. Because sometimes, I get pissed off, because I see a lot of BPL men, you have eight of them in one place and only one of them working and that’s not cost effective.

“If all of them were working then it may be that we wouldn’t have all of that salary to pay and it’ll be cost effective for me,” Mr Rolle said.

Carson Hepburn, a local resident, said, “Well, we’ll have to stop running the air-conditioning as much as we can.

“If the cost of fuel and the barrel of oil is going up, then they don’t have a choice.

“We have to live with it and we have to understand what’s going on in the world today, with the war with Russia and Ukraine.

“So, we’ll be expecting things like this to happen,” Mr Hepburn said.

Quincy Rolle said he is conflicted about how to feel about this increase.

“I am in the middle right now, because it isn’t too bad right now.

“But consumers are going to complain, because they saying bills are already high and whatnot.

“There would need to be some adjustments for us consumers, but it depends on how the economy is going.”

Mr Rolle added, “I’m not too bothered by it, but I can’t speak for the majority, because you know a lot of people are angry.”