The Tribune

By Fay Simmons

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunmedia.net

The Prime Minister yesterday blasted that "the smell is rotten" as he and his predecessor resumed House of Assembly battle over whose administration is responsible for Bahamas Power & Light's (BPL) dire state.

Philip Davis KC attacked the former Minnis administration's $90m acquisition of the seven Wartsila generation engines, whose combined 132 Mega Watt (MW) capacity was designed to end New Providence load shedding from a generation perspective, by arguing that they have not lived up to their multi-fuel billing and have cost the cash-strapped utility $3m in excess maintenance costs.

The altercation with Dr Hubert Minnis was sparked during debate on the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Bill when the former prime minister blamed soaring electricity costs on the Davis administration's failure to execute trades that would have secured further cut-price oil to support the hedging strategy his government left in place.

Dr Minnis said Bahamians are now paying a "Davis BPL tax" on their electricity bills and that "reckless, irresponsible mistakes" by the Government were behind a 71 percent increase in electricity rates in just nine months.

He argued: “The failure of the Prime Minister to continue with the hedge system the FNM left in place has led to sky high prices. Bahamians are seeing what amounts to a Davis BPL tax on their bills. If the FNM processes were left in place, the bills would not be this is high.”

“Why are our electricity bills going up while the cost of oil continues to go down? It is because, in my opinion, of reckless, irresponsible mistakes made by the Government. I want the Bahamian people to listen to me carefully. Light bills are not just going up because it's summer. Bahamians are paying more because the PLP did not execute a programme we had in place to buy oil cheaper and keep light bills lower.”

Mr Davis interjected and refuted his assertions, throwing the blame for BPL’s shortcomings "directly at the feet" of the previous administration. He claimed that the Wartsila engines are not working and that there was "a lot of smoke" around their purchase.

He said: “The state of affairs at BPL and what it is today lies directly at the feet of the FNM's previous administration. They started off with the Wartsila plant. They are not working. They have never worked properly. I will be bringing in due course, because of this constant refrain that the state of BPL today is as a result of what we are doing.”

“I don't like looking backward…I don't.. but I have to in this instance, because there's a lot of smoke that surrounds that transaction with Wartsila engines. They're not working.” Mr Davis then questioned why the engines were advertised as tri-fuel, able to run liquefied natural gas (LNG), heavy fuel oil and diesel, and maintained that his administration is working to correct the issue but it has delayed plans he intended to implement.

He said" “In fact, we want to understand why… I will bring the documents as well….I want to understand why it was presented that those engines were tri-fuel. If you look on BPL's website now it is saying tri-fuel, and we wanted understanding in the last week when we are doing things to correct what's going on.... I will in due course point to where it is, and let me tell you the smell is rotten. The smell is rotten”

Dr Minnis then suggested they continue the debate at a later time with the maintenance records for the Wartsila engines tabled for discussion.

He said: “I will entertain the Prime Minister and discuss with BPL, but not at this time as I do not have the time. But I ask the Prime Minister to bring to this Parliament the log for the maintenance programme for Wartsila so that we can see and, as a matter of fact, bring to this Parliament the log of the maintenance programme for last couple years so we can see and table in here. Then we can enter our discussion…”

Mr Davis fired back, claiming that more than $3m has been lost maintaining the Wartsila engines, and that they were installed in a "dilapidated building" and could not all be run at the same time for fear the building would collapse.

He said: “That is coming because he would find out, right, that those engines were supposed to burn a particular type of oil. You will find that the engines were not able or capable of doing so. And, as a result, it has caused an acceleration of maintenance to the extent where over $3m has been lost in the maintenance of those engines.

“You will find that Wartsila . They're not here, but they're being paid millions of dollars. For what Bahamians were doing. You will find that those engines were constructed in a dilapidated building. Therefore they can't run for fear that the building will collapse on it That’s the findings. They never ran the seven engines that’s put there.”

Mr Davis said The Bahamas is still paying for the engines in a deal that "doesn’t smell good", and he pledged to expose the "abject failures" involved.

“See, I didn’t want to look back. I wanted to solve the problem. That’s what I’m about; solving issues, not blaming, but since you want to blame me I'll put the facts to this country and let them know what failure, what abject failure, and let me tell you again. It doesn't smell good," Mr Davis told Dr Minnis. “When you look at the sums of money being paid, and we paid for the engines, so why are we still paying them and buying electricity from them. It doesn’t smell good “

Mr Minnis pressed for the maintenance logs to be tabled saying: "Don’t tell me you will.. do it.” He added: “This requires a thorough debate of which I am prepared to enter with the Prime Minister. I'm not going to do it at this time, but table the maintenance log that you all did not follow. Don't tell me you will… do it. Don't tell me you will do it.”

Alfred Sears, minister of works and utilities, responded: “On BPL there will be a full communication, documents laid and the facts will speak for themselves. It will also be supported by forensic analysis. And it will be a very, very interesting time."