Two objections filed against P.U.C. electricity decision

The lengthy process of approving new rates for Belize Electricity Limited continues. Today the Public Utilities Commission announced that it has received two objections to its initial decision in B.E.L.’s Annual Review Proceeding. Those objections, one from Government and the other from B.E.L., mean that under P.U.C. bylaws the body must now appoint an independent expert. That expert will be chosen by May twenty-second and deliver a report within twenty days. After reviewing that opinion, the P.U.C. will make its final decision by June twenty-sixth, with the new rate structure taking effect on July first. In his letter of objection on behalf of Government, Minister of Public Utilities Ralph Fonseca, chides the commission for not approving the full removal of the ten dollar service charge. This had been requested by Belmopan as part of its policy to help low income consumers and had been incorporated into B.E.L.’s A.R.P. application, albeit with compensatory kilowatt hour price increases for higher usage customers. The P.U.C. had cut the service charge to five dollars, but disallowed the increased kilowatt charges. For its part, B.E.L. registered its objections to a wide range of P.U.C. decisions, primarily focusing on the methodology the commission used to arrive at its conclusions on the company’s basic power costs and how the balances in the rate stabilization accounts are computed. The full text of both letters is available at the P.U.C. website, www.puc.bz.