B.E.L. Submits FTRP Application to P.U.C. for the Next Four Years

Light bills are not expected to increase between now and the end of the year. That’s the word from the Belize Electricity Limited which has made an application to the Public Utilities Commission for a review of rates for a four-year period, beginning July first, 2020 to June thirtieth, 2024.  So while the current forecasts project increasing costs and a Mean Electricity Rate of approximately forty-five cents, the company plans to keep the existing rates up to the end of 2020. Following that period any favorable variances will be passed on to customers.  On the other hand, any unfavorable variances will be mitigated to have minimal impacts on rates going forward.

Dawn Sampson

Dawn Sampson, General Manager, Legal and Corporate Services, B.E.L.

“Every four years at B.E.L. we go through this process where we basically project what our sales will be; we project what the cost of power will be and the cost to deliver power to our customers. And of course we also take into consideration any adjustments that we need to make to account for what the actual cost of power was for the previous period. In carrying out that exercise, we arrived at the mean electricity rate that we project over the next four-year period by simply dividing what the projected costs are by the projected sales and then we arrive at the mean electricity rate. In reviewing B.E.L.’s application, you will basically see that over the next four years, we are projecting an average increase of about three point five cents over the four-year period. Now while that is a project—and I do want to emphasize that that is a project—we also want to most importantly communicate that our objective is to ensure that we actually come in below the mean electricity rate that you see in our submission. So you are seeing that increase of three point five cents per kilowatt hour; our objective is to come in lower than that. Whatever savings we are able to realize as a result of our efforts, our intention is to pass those savings on to customers. Generally speaking, and I will ask Mister Fuller to provide you with more details, we plan to invest over two hundred and eighty million dollars in our system over the next four years and the investments are designed to improve reliability to customers, reduce cost of power. Whatever investment we make at B.E.L., our intention is to ensure that the return to our customers is basically greater than the investments that we have to make.”