The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

A DISGRUNTLED Bahamas Electricity Corporation customer claimed BEC technicians conducting a service disconnection exercise this week “invaded” her property, hopped over a wall to gain access and almost “Tasered” her three dogs in the process.

Barbara Thompson said even though the incident was “not a life and death situation”, the workers “should be ashamed of themselves” for giving her the fear “that someone was breaking into my home and the possibility of having my dogs tasered”.

In a letter sent to The Tribune, Ms Thompson said she was at home on Wednesday when she received a phone call from BEC officials stating that two technicians wanted to access her property for disconnection purposes. She said as there were two residences on the property, and since she knew her “BEC bill was fully paid,” she assumed it was her tenant’s bill that was overdue.

Ms Thompson said she explained that the tenant was not home and offered to take a message, informing the men that they would be unable to gain access to the meter without the tenant’s presence, since the meter was inside the locked apartment.

At this point, she said she thought the issue was settled. She said a short while later her gate buzzer sounded, followed by her dogs alerting her that someone was in the yard approaching the house. She thought criminals were trying to gain entry to her property.

She said she decided to let her dogs out to see if something was going on while she stayed inside.

Ms Thompson said the technicians hopped her wall into her yard and were trying to access a meter in her home. She also said one of the men had a “Taser-like device” that he was about to use on her dogs.

She said she “firmly” told both technicians to vacate the property. As the workers were walking away, she said she set off her security alarm.

Ms Thompson said police arrived soon after having being notified by her security company. She said while the police were at her gate, the BEC technicians returned “hoping that the police would force me to allow them access to the property.”

She said she explained to the officers the meter was not accessible due to the tenant’s absence.

“I understand that the job of handling electricity disconnections is a challenging one and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, however, BEC should have been satisfied (as I thought they were) with leaving the message that I promised to pass along,” she said.

When The Tribune contacted BEC Executive Chairman Leslie Miller about the situation, he said the corporation “has the rights to access any property”.

“Their job is to disconnect the light if that’s what they are sent to do, and no one has the right to prohibit them from doing so under the law and under the Electricity Act,” he said. “This person who is saying they are intruding, they are not intruding. They have to have access to enable them to do their job. When the lights are off and they want BEC to come reconnect the lights, you don’t hear about no intrusion then. They don’t care if you have to jump a 50-foot fence, so let’s be fair.

“Some people like to come with this foolishness. They put the meter in the house. If you put your meter in the house and BEC can’t have access to it, they will turn you off from the pole. When they turn you off from the pole, it’s going to take longer because you’ll need a truck then to come and hook it back up, and then you’re going to be charged I think $150 extra to do so. So they need to stop these little games,” Mr Miller said.