The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemendai.net

THE DEPUTY Prime Minister said yesterday that “all options remain open” open to Cabinet on the Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC) reform process, adding that recommendations from key advisors in the process were now up for consideration.

Speaking briefly with Tribune Business outside Cabinet on the issue yesterday, Philip Davis said: “They (KPMG) have presented their recommendations on the process. That is now before Cabinet. Cabinet will probably be giving it consideration between this meeting or next week’s meeting.”

The Government had stated initially that its BEC reform plan, which is the first step in liberalising the Bahamian energy sector, involved splitting the Corporation into two - between its generation/transmission and distribution assets.

Mr Davis said yesterday that the decision on whether to have two separate entities or just one had yet to be made./

“It’s ‘still up to Cabinet to decide whether it will be separated, conjoined or otherwise, whether we go with their recommendations at all. The options remain open,” said Mr Davis yesterday.

The Government will retain equity ownership - 100 per cent in the case of the transmission and distribution business, where the winning bidder will have a management contract only, and a majority stake on the generation side.

It was initially proposed that the government would select the preferred bidders in the process by November 2013, undertake contract negotiations in November/December and execute contracts by January of this year. The process, however, is now at least three months behind.

Carolina-based Power Secure is understood to be the only bidder still in the running for the contract to manage BEC’s transmission and distribution business.

On the generation side, one bidder is the Caribbean Power Partners consortium, headed by Texas-based Taylor Cheek, and featuring Fluor Corporation and ProEnergy Services. Other bidders are thought to have originated from the Caribbean, China and Asia.