P.U.P. Area Rep Says High Electricity Rates Crippling Small/Medium Businesses

Orlando Habet

One more issue from last Fridays House sitting, in 2018, the cost of electricity spiked twice. Later that year, Belize Electricity Limited made a formal request to the Public Utilities Commission for an increase of zero-point two-two cents per kilowatt-hour as the Mean Electricity Rate. The request was made for the company to recover approximately eighteen point eight million dollars spent out of pocket to purchase energy from Mexico. The request was denied and despite the high cost of power, B.E.L. decided not to pass it on to consumers. Cayo North East Area Representative Orlando Habet, on Friday, said that currently the cost of electricity is high, crippling small and medium businesses. 

Orlando Habet, Area Representative, Cayo North East

“The rate of electricity imposed on the people of this country at an average of forty-four cents per kilowatt versus a world average of twenty-eight cents per kilowatt hour is making this vital utility unreachable, unaffordable, prohibitive and in the medium to long term unbearable. We claim we want new entrepreneurs, new small and medium businesses and companies but our utility costs make them noncompetitive and these businesses suffer the consequences of being short-lived. In order, Madam Speaker, the fold and they out of business.”