B.E.L. Earns $40 Million in Profits in First Pandemic Year

Andrew Marshalleck

Belize Electricity Limited realized a profit of forty million dollars in 2020, despite the significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy.  That’s because several factors were at play, including a considerable decline in the cost of power purchased from C.F.E. in Mexico.  According to B.E.L. Chairman Andrew Marshalleck, overall sales decreased significantly in the first year of the pandemic, notwithstanding the profit at the end of the last fiscal year.

Andrew Marshalleck, Chairman, Belize Electricity Ltd.

“B.E.L. was able to realize significant profits during 2020 and that’s in spite of the fact that it’s overall sales decreased significantly during COVID and also of those sales more people were unable to pay the bills so that arrears also climbed.  And the reason why profits were realized in those circumstances is because the cost of power also fell dramatically during COVID and of course the rate of decline in cost outstripped the decline in revenues, so there were still profits. We expect the cost of power to increase gradually.  The projections are hardly precise.  The experiences that it’s gone up back more or less about halfway of where we expect it will eventually settle when things rebound to where they were before COVID.  So the cost of power from CFE is already on the rise.  The rate of the rise is hard to predict and really has to do with the global recovery from the pandemic and the recovery specifically in Mexico from the pandemic, the economic recovery.”