Belize - Belize News - Channel5Belize.com - Great Belize Productions - Belize Breaking News
Home » Social Issues » P.U.C. says it will issue order on B.E.L.
Nov 5, 2008

P.U.C. says it will issue order on B.E.L.

Story PictureA utility and regulator that have not been getting along well of late are the Public Utilities Commission and Belize Electricity Limited. For months, the two have been engaged in a public battle over rates. In the latest round, the P.U.C. has put B.E.L. on notice that on Friday it will issue an order to force them to act according to the terms of their license. This morning we asked Chairman John Avery what such a document would entail.

John Avery, Chairman, P.U.C.
“The order, basically, will instruct B.E.L. to comply with all the conditions of their license and we will be pointing out specific conditions that relate to some of the actions that we believe have been in bad faith by B.E.L., frustrating customers who require service. We will put some provisions in the order so that we can monitor if they are complying with the order. Basically, we are going to tell them we need to have these services and you need to have them done to these standards so that we can measure if they are in fact complying with the order.”

Kendra Griffith
“Is there a penalty for them not complying with that order?”

John Avery
“Well, there are legal repercussions for them not complying with the order so that is why we had to take that approach.”

Kendra Griffith
“They have sent out saying—it’s a public thing almost going on between you two in which B.E.L. is saying they are complying with their license.”

John Avery
“I don’t expect them to say otherwise. The thing is, if you noticed, they are making their public comments; we have none to make. We believe at this time we have been pushed into a corner where we feel that issuing an order is the only option or it’s the best option we have available to us.”

According to Avery, a full tariff review of B.E.L. will soon be coming up. He adds that if oil prices continue along its current reduced rates, it is possible that consumers may see lower light bills in the coming months.


Viewers please note: This Internet newscast is a verbatim transcript of our evening television newscast. Where speakers use Kriol, we attempt to faithfully reproduce the quotes using a standard spelling system.

Advertise Here

Comments are closed