The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE and LYNAIRE MUNNINGS

Tribune Staff Reporters

CONFLICT looms over the future of Bahamas Power and Light as Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis vows reforms and the head of the Bahamas Electrical Workers Union (BEWU) pledges resistance.

Concrete information about the Davis administration’s intentions is elusive, but Free National Movement leader Michael Pintard claimed yesterday that the government plans to privatise the utility company.

He claimed during a press conference that responsibility for power generation will be given to a company “known to this administration very well, and some would go as far as to say, is headed by an ardent supporter of the Progressive Liberal Party”.

He also claimed the government is talking to another company about taking over the transmission and distribution side of BPL.

“It appears to be privatisation, that if you take your entire generation component and you make that available to another company to execute and you take your transmission and distribution and turn that over to another company, it appears the reason for your existence has been made available for somebody else to execute on your behalf,” he said.

Mr Pintard, who spoke about the deal as though it has already been settled, asked how the arrangement could reach this point without competitive bidding. He complained that the administration had not engaged local stakeholders about plans that have likely been in the works for months.

“Who will ultimately own the assets in this reconfiguration?” he asked.

Mr Davis denied the privatisation claim.

“We will bring in some strategic partners for the purposes of being able to find the necessary funding that we, the government, don’t have to arrest some of the issues that we have, and it’s a lot of money that’s required to fix BPL, and we have to find an innovative and creative way to get that done,” he told reporters after an event at Atlantis.

In a letter yesterday, BEWU president Kyle Wilson expressed disapproval of the administration’s efforts to reform BPL, calling it an egregious decision “that strips Bahamians of ownership opportunities and undermines job stability for Bahamians, which dilutes the sovereignty of our nation”.

 Mr Wilson told The Tribune that the proposed deal is expected to be rolled out within three months and have an 18-month closeout period.

 Although Mr Davis met BEWU, Electricity Utility Managerial Union (BEMU) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) executives on Saturday to assure them that staff will be secured and all industrial agreements will be honoured, Mr Wilson said he believes the proposal will put union members at risk.

 “No one give me a paper to show me nothing, to show what they saying is true,” he said. “How do I know it’s true, man? I ain’t born this big man, and I don’t have two long ears and a long tail.”

 Mr Davis met union officials after Energy Minister Jobeth Coleby-Davis met Mr Wilson and others two weeks ago.

 He said officials told him the deal involves a company called “Pike”, though he had no further details.

 Pike Electric Company, a company based in the United States, previously expressed interest in a transmission and distribution contract. According to its website, it “specialises in the engineering, construction, maintenance and upgrade of transmission, distribution and substation infrastructure”.

 Mr Wilson suggested the administration’s ambitions are broader than when the Christie administration contracted PowerSecure to manage BPL in 2016, an arrangement the Minnis administration cancelled in 2017.

 “Now you telling me you splitting up the company into different entities and one set of company have it one way,” he said. “They ain’ managing. They taking over. They call it a partnership but they ain managing the Bahamian people, they taking over the assets. They taking over generation. They bringing in they own generators. They bringing in their own people.”