B.E.L. reports twenty million in losses

B.E.L. has finally released a statement on the standoff with the Public Utilities Commission following last week’s directive by the regulatory body instructing the utility company to comply with requests for new connections. B.E.L.’s position was and continues to be that because of the cap of twenty-five million dollars in capital investment, it could not enter into new ventures for 2008 and 2009, including installation of new services. According to the B.E.L.’s ten point statement of today, there are inconsistencies with the June Ninth Final Decision of the P.U.C. and its Clarification of last Wednesday. The statement points to repeated instances where the P.U.C. tells B.E.L. to remain within the twenty-five million dollar limit and that anything in excess of this amount would have to be delayed. B.E.L. makes three further points: that it has not received any response from the P.U.C. on its annual capital budget and notably that it had a loss of over twenty million dollars at the end of the second quarter in June and it is in default on several loans. B.E.L. reportedly made twenty-nine point eight million last financial year. B.E.L. also says they have no funds to invest and that new services can only be carried out if customers pay the full cost of services upfront. On July twenty-fifth B.E.L. filed an application for judicial review with the Supreme Court, appealing the P.U.C.’s final decision on its rates and challenging its new rate setting methodology.