As we told you last week - your light bill is going up - slightly - starting in July.
The Public Utilities Commission issued its initial decision for BEL's annual review proceeding last week.
It granted BEL a modest increase in the rate per kilowatt hour, but not quite what the utility had asked for.
Today at a press conference, the PUC Chairman explained that one of the main reasons was BEL's slow movement on phasing out diesel generators on Caye Caulker:...
John Avery - Chairman, PUC
"Caye Caulker is currently isolated from the grid, which means that 100% of the power comes from fossil fuel and we've been spending over $3 million dollars a year on diesel for Caye Caulker alone. That helps no one. BEL cannot make any mark up on that and that is the most expensive source of power in the country. Unfortunately, that hasn't been done, we know they did some work on this, however they are not projecting to complete this for some time now. And so, what the commission did is to say, since the rate setting methodology allows it we will apply only 9% return on the acid value for the 2019-2020 period. If the commission is satisfied, or if the commission in its discretion determines that BEL has made satisfactory progress to get this done by the next ERP, then we will put back the rate of return to 10% and reward them properly for the investments they have made. And so, we are hinting to a penalty if you don't and if you do make good progress then we are making a commitment to restoring the rate of return to 10% for that final year. Actually, we are just throwing money into these diesel trucks that come in and continue to operate Caye Caulker on diesel."
According to the PUC - BEL is moving slow o that Caye Caulker project because it is working along with the CDB - which has its own processes.
There are 21 days from May first, 2018 for BEL or anyone to challenge the initial decision.
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