P.U.C. rejects B.E.L. proposed tariff rebalancing

The Public Utilities Commission has delivered its initial decision in the Annual Review Proceedings for Belize Electricity Limited. Released this afternoon, a quick perusal of the document indicates that most customers should be pleased. While approving B.E.L.’s Cost of Power, Rate Stabilization Account Balances, and adjustments and mean electricity rates, when it comes to customer tariffs–this means your light bill–the P.U.C. rejected the company’s proposed re-balancing of rates. Instead of eliminating the ten dollar service charge and raising the kilowatt hour rates to compensate, the regulators opted to reduce the monthly service charge to five dollars and leave the residential kilowatt rates unchanged. The P.U.C. also denied B.E.L.’s application for higher re-connection fees and liquidated damages for tampering.

There were eleven written submissions made to the P.U.C. Interested parties have until May fourteenth to comment on the decision and if there are objections–presumably from B.E.L.–then by May twenty-second the P.U.C. must hire an independent expert to review the decision and deliver a report within twenty days. Following that submission, the P.U.C. will issue its final decision, which will go into effect on July first. In 2006, B.E.L. achieved record net profits of twenty-six point one million dollars on energy revenues of one hundred and forty-nine point six million.