Woman claims BEC staff 'invaded' her property

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

A DISGRUNTLED Bahamas Electricity Corporation customer claimed BEC technicians conducting a service disconnection exercise this week “invaded” her property, hopped over a wall to gain access and almost “Tasered” her three dogs in the process.

Barbara Thompson said even though the incident was “not a life and death situation”, the workers “should be ashamed of themselves” for giving her the fear “that someone was breaking into my home and the possibility of having my dogs tasered”.

In a letter sent to The Tribune, Ms Thompson said she was at home on Wednesday when she received a phone call from BEC officials stating that two technicians wanted to access her property for disconnection purposes. She said as there were two residences on the property, and since she knew her “BEC bill was fully paid,” she assumed it was her tenant’s bill that was overdue.

Ms Thompson said she explained that the tenant was not home and offered to take a message, informing the men that they would be unable to gain access to the meter without the tenant’s presence, since the meter was inside the locked apartment.

At this point, she said she thought the issue was settled. She said a short while later her gate buzzer sounded, followed by her dogs alerting her that someone was in the yard approaching the house. She thought criminals were trying to gain entry to her property.

She said she decided to let her dogs out to see if something was going on while she stayed inside.

Ms Thompson said the technicians hopped her wall into her yard and were trying to access a meter in her home. She also said one of the men had a “Taser-like device” that he was about to use on her dogs.

She said she “firmly” told both technicians to vacate the property. As the workers were walking away, she said she set off her security alarm.

Ms Thompson said police arrived soon after having being notified by her security company. She said while the police were at her gate, the BEC technicians returned “hoping that the police would force me to allow them access to the property.”

She said she explained to the officers the meter was not accessible due to the tenant’s absence.

“I understand that the job of handling electricity disconnections is a challenging one and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, however, BEC should have been satisfied (as I thought they were) with leaving the message that I promised to pass along,” she said.

When The Tribune contacted BEC Executive Chairman Leslie Miller about the situation, he said the corporation “has the rights to access any property”.

“Their job is to disconnect the light if that’s what they are sent to do, and no one has the right to prohibit them from doing so under the law and under the Electricity Act,” he said. “This person who is saying they are intruding, they are not intruding. They have to have access to enable them to do their job. When the lights are off and they want BEC to come reconnect the lights, you don’t hear about no intrusion then. They don’t care if you have to jump a 50-foot fence, so let’s be fair.

“Some people like to come with this foolishness. They put the meter in the house. If you put your meter in the house and BEC can’t have access to it, they will turn you off from the pole. When they turn you off from the pole, it’s going to take longer because you’ll need a truck then to come and hook it back up, and then you’re going to be charged I think $150 extra to do so. So they need to stop these little games,” Mr Miller said.

Comments

GrassRoot says...

how about paying your bills Miss?

Posted 10 October 2014, 2:18 p.m. Suggest removal

CommonSense says...

Read Bahamas READ. She CLEARLY said it was her tenants whose light they were coming to disconnect.

Posted 10 October 2014, 2:58 p.m. Suggest removal

DonAnthony says...

If her bill was paid there is no reason for B.E.C to use any method to disconnect her. Stop blaming other people and take some personal responsibility. On a related matter, would the tribune regularly ask Mr. Miller about the status of his arrears. I mean they seem to interview him regularly, it should be the first question each time. I am a tax payer and his boss, and I deserve to know whether his bills are being paid. Also I pay in full on time each month so I am subsidizing his account and needlessly paying more for his inability to live within his means.

Posted 10 October 2014, 2:49 p.m. Suggest removal

DonAnthony says...

I believe it is law that a meter must be on the outside of a building so it is readily accessible to B.E.C. If so then Ms. Thompson is clearly at fault and should be fined and ordered to move her meter like everyone else. At the least stop complaining when we finally have people trying to do their job made more difficult because of her actions.

Posted 10 October 2014, 3:12 p.m. Suggest removal

B_I_D___ says...

Yeap...by law BEC is to have open and unrestricted access to the meters at any time, they cannot be locked up or concealed, and even without a property owner present, they can access your property to get to that meter.

Posted 10 October 2014, 4:06 p.m. Suggest removal

Emac says...

The Tribune delight in printing this type of humdrum bull that should never really make news. But call them to alert them that some illegal vessel had just mozy on in with 300 illegals and they fail to respond. Amazing!

Posted 10 October 2014, 3:27 p.m. Suggest removal

concernedcitizen says...

IN FORTY YEARS WE HAVE PROVEN WE CAN NOT DELIVER RELIABLE POWER AT A REASONABLE RATE ,,PLEASE LET A FOREIGN FIRM BUILD ,OWN AND OPERATE A POWER PLANT AND GUARANTEE US A REASONABLE RATE ,,,

Posted 10 October 2014, 4:25 p.m. Suggest removal

sansoucireader says...

What is this 'taser like device' she's talking about? Is it legal for the BEC workers to carry/use it?

Posted 10 October 2014, 10:21 p.m. Suggest removal

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