PRESS STATEMENT
Hon. Michael C. Pintard, M.P.: FNM Demands Answers on Legality and Cost of BPL Rate Scheme: Is the Public Being Misled Again?
In their typical pandering and knee-jerk way, the Davis Administration ran to announce an Energy Rebate Programme in response to a barrage of complaints from BPL customers – some of whom saw their power bill double in just one month.
What Bahamians need is serious governance and honest stewardship of their national utilities. This is not it.
We appreciate the fact that BPL brought some clarity to this so-called “rebate” with their statement today that stressed that the Bahamian taxpayers will be the ones still footing the bill for this rebate via a subsidy to BPL. Yet still, the Opposition demands answers to the following question:
1. Why is the Government pretending that Bahamians are saving money when the funds to cover the rebate are still coming from Bahamian Taxpayers via the Treasury? This is most diabolical.
2. Which Budget and Line Item in the Government will this subsidy be charged against? We do not recall seeing any funds in the upcoming budget for this expense.
3. What is the projected cost to the Public Treasury and the Bahamian Public by this latest PLP misadventure?
4. Given that this rebate is being funded by ALL Bahamian taxpayers, will the government confirm that the customers of Grand Bahama Power and other private utilities in the Family Islands will also get the same rebate that is being offered to BPL customers?
If not, how can the government defend taking money from Grand Bahamians and some Family Island Taxpayers but not allowing them to benefit?
There are laws in place that govern how fuel surcharges are to be applied and what they can be used for. But true to form, the PLP government is sidestepping the laws and regulations with yet another reactionary and ill-conceived intrusion into the affairs of a critical public utility.
The Bahamian people have seen this movie before: It was in 2021 that the Davis Administration botched the fuel hedge and then compounded their folly in the Spring of 2022 by ignoring its own appointed Board and not adjusting the fuel surcharge. This led to BPL running up fuel arrears with their suppliers reportedly in excess of $90 million.
According to Minister Sears at the time, the government was forced to step in, and the Bahamian taxpayers ended up covering the arrears with a “loan” to BPL that remains substantially unpaid.
Worse, BPL got permission from URCA to spike the fuel surcharge in the summer of 2022 through their now infamous Glide Path Strategy, specifically to pay back the “fuel arrears loan” from the government. So, BPL customers were forced to pay extra to cover this loan from the government. BPL collected the money but never paid back the loan. URCA promised to review the matter in 2024. The regulator delayed the review until 2025. The public awaits the outcome of the review.
And now, fast forward, we have the same Davis administration again creating an unfunded liability at BPL that all Bahamians will have to cover, including those taxpayers on the islands not served by BPL.