THE TRIBUNE
Thursday, December 1, 2016, PAGE 3
Customers continue to criticise BPL over high bills By KHRISNA VIRGIL Deputy Chief Reporter kvirgil@tribunemedia.net ANGRY Bahamas Power and Light Company Ltd consumers yesterday criticised the electricity provider and dismissed BPL’s explanation over higherthan-normal billing following Hurricane Matthew. Many consumers told The Tribune they simply could not wrap their minds around the “extraordinarily” high bills they were sent, with several of them rejecting BPL’s claims of using “historical usage data” that was specific to each customer’s account to calculate billing. And as customers bemoaned this, they were also forced to combat constant power cuts yesterday. The situation, one BPL customer said, was “outrageous” for a power company that is “ridiculously unreliable.” Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis maintained that there has been no rate increase. He said the government has given directives to BPL’s board of directors to work with anyone that has been
DEPUTY Prime Minister Philip ‘Brave’ Davis at the commissioning of Bahamas Power and Light’s power plant in Harbour Island recently. He has insisted there has been no rate increase despite customer concerns. adversely affected by the have been added to the cur- the estimation of the bill billing procedure. rent bill. during the month of Octo“During the course of “And anyone who is as ber.” the hurricane I understand affected adversely by it, On Tuesday, BPL denied they estimated some bills we have given directives to that it had hiked prices and then there were adjust- the chairman to work with and sought to clarify billments made for the bills those who might have been ing practices specifically after the hurricane,” Mr affected by what they call, for October and November Davis told reporters on the the additional sum that was 2016 electricity usage. sidelines of an event at the added to the bill because In a press statement, the Nassau Straw Market yes- of the adjustment that had provider said there had terday. “Now that adjust- to be made because of the been no rate increase, but ment may appear to have underestimation that was instead electricity bills had the difference that would made during the course of decreased as much as 50 per
cent in some instances compared to May 2012. This is primarily due to fleet improvements, energy efficiency measures, lower fuel prices and other managerial initiatives, BPL said. BPL said it estimated the October bill because employees were working to restore electricity service to customers post Hurricane Matthew. “This estimate took into consideration historical usage data specific to each customer’s account. The November bill was calculated from the actual meter reading of the account,” BPL said. But Margot Nairn, a 15year resident of Millennium Gardens, questioned whether BPL had been using someone else’s billing history to calculate her household’s usage. “I really am outraged,” she said, “fifteen years in my house and I’ve never seen this kind of bill. My bill is usually between $200 and $300 per month give or take. But my last bill was $550. I’m not able to make sense of this at all.” Asked whether she would query the bill with BPL, Ms Nairn said she intends to do so, but she doesn’t have
DAMAGED CABLE CAUSED BLACKOUT from page one
Yesterday, fingers were again being pointed at old and obsolete equipment and an obstructive Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC) board as latest wave of blackouts brought renewed frustration for consumers. Bahamas Electrical Workers Union President (BEWU) Paul Maynard said BEC and its operating subsidiary BPL has had replacement cables for two years but the old cables have not been replaced because no one has been given the contract. Last night senior Bahamian management sources expressed sympathy for BPL and its manager PowerSecure, saying they were “taking all the heat for all that is going wrong now”. The source said the historic non-maintenance of lines and equipment which has been requested for months but not approved by the BEC board had left them with their “hands tied”. “A major underground cable fault is to blame for the initial outage that caused a complete shutdown of BPL’s generation, transmission and distribution networks on the island,” Mrs Ingraham said yesterday. “To quickly restore power to customers, BPL has put in place temporary measures but its efforts are strongly centred on locating the damaged underground cable and carrying out repairs immediately. BPL anticipates that once repairs are complete, its services should return to normal. “In the meantime, due to the back-up measures currently being utilised, BPL advises customers that they may experience intermittent challenges with their power supply until operations have stabilised. BPL understands the frustration of its customers and is presently working on several solutions that will help improve reliability as soon as possible. Further, the company advises that it will try to give customers as much advanced warning as possible given the present system instability.” Meanwhile, Mr Maynard said the company has had replacement cables for two years but the old cables have not been replaced because no one has been given the contract. “This cable issue happens every year. Every summer we have to repair those same cables, between Blue Hills and Big Pond. They are old and unstable,” he
said. “We ordered new cables about two years ago and they are here but no one has gotten the contract to install them, so they are just collecting dust.” Phillip ‘Brave’ Davis, the Minister of Works, said the government is hoping to “move very quickly” to replace the company’s aging engines. “Unfortunately, as we have said to the Bahamian people before, the engines that we have are aged engines. We have brought in additional generation capacity. Modern, yes, but we’re still relying on some of the very old generation capacity that we have,” Mr Davis said yesterday. “And we are hoping to be able to move very quickly to replace these aging engines, it requires us to raise capital for it and we’re now in the process of doing that. But I commend the staff at BPL for reacting and quickly restoring power whenever it goes off. If one could look at the time period in which power is off, how long it is staying off, you’ll see that those times have been improving.” Hundreds of irate BPL customers vented their frustration on the company’s social media page on Tuesday night, demanding to know why blackouts were happening so late in the year.
“I ready to put in a police report on y’all cause this is robbery in its highest form. Y’all be charging an arm, leg, hand, foot, heart and organs for a service that off more than it on,” one person wrote. “As tiny as this island is and all these extra fees y’all collecting I need y’all to go and upgrade all them old generators and systems to have a better more efficient service.” Another customer said: “Y’all need to get y’all act
together. Last night, early morning, now again. The country’s light bills already high, no compensation but total darkness. Stop playing around with people light because when appliances go bad from these blackouts, y’all turn deaf ears
on the public. This person running BPL needs to get it together.”
much hope that anything will be done. Another consumer, Neville Hart, branded BPL’s billing procedure a “pile of foolishness” and said by not explaining the billing system outright was poor customer relations at its finest. He said: “It really is foolishness. BPL should have said ahead of slapping us with super low bills and then a stupidly high one that they were estimating. The customer relations at BPL leaves much to be desired. The bill that I was issued was even higher than my highest bull during the oil hike in 2008 and 2009. “BPL must be broke and trying to suck the poor consumer dry for every dollar they can get.” “It’s just outrageously high for a power company that is ridiculously unreliable,” another customer Samantha Dennis said. “I wouldn’t mind paying if the service wasn’t so poor. “Sadly I queried the bill and got no resolution. What am I to do? Not pay and then be turned off? We don’t have a choice.” • Some names in this story have been changed at the request of the interviewees.
BPL said it would continue to provide updates via its Facebook page.
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Friday, December 2 , 2016 nd
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NEW
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GALLERIA 6 - JFK DRIVE
USE YOUR E-CARD TO RESERVE TICKETS AT 380-3649 OR WWW.GALLERIACINEMAS.COM
INCARNATE
NEW 1:10
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Regular business hours resume on Monday, Dec 5th, 9am - 5pm.
MOANA RULES DON'T APPLY
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The Corporation apologizes for any inconvenience caused.
FANTASTIC BEAST ALMOST CHRISTMAS
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BAD SANTA
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