The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune News Editor

rrolle@tribunemedia.net 

BAHAMAS Power and Light customers will receive just $8.45 each under a rebate initiative tied to more than $610,000 in regulatory fines.

The disclosure came one day after the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority announced that more than 72,000 residential customers would share the money, but did not reveal how little each household would receive.

BPL said eligible New Providence customers will receive the one-time credit automatically during the July billing period. The $8.45 will appear in the “adjustment” section of their electricity bills, with all rebates expected to be issued by July 30.

The utility unveiled the precise figure as it prepares to return at least $610,240.94 in fines stemming from regulatory breaches connected to the crippling power failures that battered New Providence in 2018 and 2019.

The rebate amounts to less than $10 for each eligible household despite the years of disruption, repeated blackouts and regulatory battles that produced the settlement.

The programme applies to active residential customers in New Providence who were receiving electricity service in March 2026. Customers will not have to apply, as BPL will identify qualifying accounts through its billing records.

BPL proposed returning the money directly to consumers rather than paying the full value of the fines to URCA. The regulator accepted the proposal, saying it would allow customers to benefit directly from the settlement.

“The total value of the rebate initiative will be no less than $610,240.94,” BPL said.

The settlement closes two enforcement cases arising from the September 2018 fire at Clifton Pier Power Station and the prolonged load shedding that repeatedly plunged New Providence into darkness in 2019.

The Clifton Pier blaze knocked significant generating capacity offline and unleashed widespread outages. The following summer, BPL struggled to meet electricity demand as recurring power cuts disrupted homes and businesses across the island.

URCA found that BPL failed or refused to provide all the information demanded during its investigations, obstructing the regulator’s ability to carry out its statutory responsibilities.

The regulator also concluded that BPL breached several core obligations under its public electricity supplier’s licence.

It found that the utility failed to take all reasonable steps to maintain its generating facilities, inadequately forecast and planned for electricity demand, failed to provide an adequate, safe and efficient electricity supply and did not take reasonable steps to prevent or quickly resolve unplanned interruptions.

URCA fined BPL $229,535.34 in the first enforcement case in November 2019 after describing the utility’s conduct as repeated and continuing breaches.

BPL challenged the regulator’s findings before the Utilities Appeal Tribunal, dragging the dispute across several years before abandoning the appeals and negotiating a settlement.

Rather than collecting the fines itself, URCA approved BPL’s proposal to distribute the full settlement amount among eligible residential customers.

“By accepting the Customer Rebate Initiative in lieu of payment of the fines, URCA has ensured that the benefit of the settlement would flow directly to consumers,” the regulator said.

BPL said the rebate will be treated as an unrecoverable expense borne entirely by the company and cannot be passed back to customers through tariffs, rates, future bill adjustments or other charges.

URCA had also stressed that the utility cannot claw back the penalties from the same customers receiving the credits.

BPL said it will maintain records of the credits, monitor their application and submit a final report certified by its internal auditor to URCA for review.