B.E.L. says G.S.T. error is government’s problem

It has been called a tempest in a teapot but the gathering storm over the application of G.S.T. to electricity bills is threatening to boil over and burn consumers. At issue is hundreds of thousands of dollars in G.S.T. invoices issued by B.E.L. Apparently, after much discussion, government gave the company the O.K. to charge consumers the ten percent tax on electricity used in June but not billed for until early July. Once those bills were issued, however, and it was pointed out that the June tax charges were contrary to the intention of the law, government admitted its error and asked B.E.L. to reverse the tax bills. Unfortunately, B.E.L. consulted its legal experts who have advised them that under a section of the law that appears to defy the legislation’s intention, the company must charge the tax on June purchases. A release from B.E.L. this afternoon reiterates that position and flatly says that if any refunds are to be provided, they should come from the government; not B.E.L. So where does that leave us? This evening G.O.B. legal advisor Gian Ghandi told News Five that he will be meeting with B.E.L. later in the week to work out the mechanics of the refund mechanism. Note, this is a matter of how and not if. Ghandi, specifically assured consumers already billed for June G.S.T. that they absolutely will receive a pro-rata refund. The only question is whether it will take the form of a credit on the next bill or some other mechanism. Although the matter of correcting the G.S.T. Unit’s error seems simple enough, B.E.L.’s task of manually adjusting thousands of electricity bills may actually cost more than the resulting savings to consumers. That’s why the company has basically told government that, “you created the problem; you fix it.”