The Tribune

By FAY SIMMONS

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

Abaco business owners yesterday revealed their electricity costs more than doubled in just one month as Bahamas Power & Light’s (BPL) fuel cost recovery strategy consumes an ever-increasing share of corporate cash flows.

Ruth Saunders, the Abaco Chamber of Commerce vice-president, revealing to Tribune Business that one of her electricity bills ballooned from $281 to $580 in just one month, said: “The last cycle for BPL, there was a lot of talk around town that their bills were high, and we recently got a bill for our home as well as the business.

“The home went up at least 75 percent, and on that your fuel cost is more than the actual bill. What I’ve been noticing with BPL is because the cost of fuel has gone up, the fuel surcharge on the voltage has increased drastically. Our [business] electricity bill is $272 and, out of that, $236 is the fuel charge. But now if you look at the home bill, they went from $281 to $580.81 in a month.”

Ms Saunders owns a print and sign company with her daughter, and said frequent power outages and load shedding - similar to what New Providence has again begun to experience in recent weeks - have put a ‘damper’ on her business as activities cease without electricity to operate the machinery. She added that when BPL’s supply goes out during a large print run, it ruins the image and creates unnecessary wastage for her company.

She said: “We have been experiencing power outages and load sharing, and it really affects and puts a damper on the business - especially our business - because it kind of stops us in our tracks. We really can’t do anything. We can’t even allow customers to come in because our buzzer is on electricity. It puts you at a standstill and it is very disruptive.”

“Don’t let it stop in the middle of a 52-inch by 96-inch print. That print goes in the garbage and we have to restart, and so that’s ink and paper going down the drain. It’s very inconsiderate.”

Ms Saunders explained that increasing BPL bills have forced her to consider if she should pass the increased operational costs on to consumers or continue to absorb them.

She said: “Do you eat the cost of the 10 percent overrun that you have for business? Is it fair to the consumer that we raise the prices just to accommodate the outages and the boo boos we make when they don’t have power, or when you cut us off right in the middle of print and we don’t even get a notification so that we can plan.

“The cost of doing business gets higher because we haven’t yet done an increase because it’s unfair for us to offload it to the customer. And it’s also unfair to us because if our print stops then we have to throw it in the garbage. It’s a BPL problem that comes at our expense or the customer’s expense. So, it’s a fine line.”

Ms Saunders said costs have increased in many areas on Abaco, especially construction, food and souvenirs. She added that due to Custom duties, the regressive taxation system and overall market conditions, Abaco merchants are often forced to increase prices.

She said: “I think we have just like blown up the market when it came to people doing work for persons and they’ve put a tag on it.”

“Everybody has, you could tell in the food stores; you could tell in the souvenir stores, definitely. You can tell because they’re actually having to pay to bring the stuff in and Customs is going to charge them, so the overall cost they still have to put a mark-up on it. Everything is gone up. It’s blown up, the cost of living in Abaco, because, hey, we live in paradise.”

Ms Saunders said she is doubtful that BPL will transition to using renewables on Abaco because it cares more about making money than ensuring consumers are happy. She added that BPL does not often compensate clients for damages to their appliances and machinery due to power outages.

She added: “They don’t want to move to renewable energy. It’s a money-making scheme right now for most corporations in The Bahamas, and the consumer and business owners suffer for it BPL does not even have a track record if they burn something in the house during their shortages and you put in a claim. Nobody I know has ever gotten anything from BPL, and that’s a shame.”