Thursday, June 23, 2016
By NICO SCAVELLA
Tribune Staff Reporter
nscavella@tribunemedia.net
TALL Pines MP Leslie Miller yesterday commended Deputy Prime Minister Phillip “Brave” Davis for seeking to forgive the debts of Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) consumers, calling it a “noble” endeavour “that should have been done a long time ago”.
Mr Miller, former Bahamas Electricity Corporation chairman, said the government ought to be “congratulated” for having a “social conscience” and doing the Bahamian people “a favour by writing off debt that you’re never going to collect”.
However, Mr Miller said while Mr Davis’ efforts are “courageous,” the endeavour is “nothing new,” as he claimed that he and the former BEC board were in the process of implementing a “special fund” to assist persons unable to pay their bills while he was still chairman of the corporation.
Mr Miller’s comments came one day after Mr Davis announced that the government is working on a series of operational agreements with BPL to write off many of the corporation’s delinquent accounts, potentially returning some 3,000 users back to the grid.
Mr Davis, who has responsibility for BPL, told reporters outside the House of Assembly on Tuesday that he has already approached BPL with hopes of getting them to forgive the debts of consumers who have been unable to settle balances for prolonged periods of time.
He said he has been informed that some 3,000 persons have fallen into this classification, insisting officials now have to look at these clients on a case-by-case basis to determine how best to resolve each matter. He said he personally knows consumers who have outstanding balances well beyond $5,000.
Mr Davis said the potential to forgive those outstanding balances remains just one aspect of ongoing discussions between the Christie administration and PowerSecure – BPL’s management company.
“What he’s doing is something that should have been done a long time ago,” Mr Miller said when contacted yesterday. “And I’m happy and he should be congratulated for having that sort of social conscience that these things need to stop. The corporation is owned by the Bahamian people, so all you’re doing is really doing them a favour by writing off debt that you’re never going to collect.
“Every corporation should have a social conscience and BEC was devoid of a social conscience. So I’m glad that the minister is in fact implementing it. It’s the right thing to do, especially in these difficult times.”
Nonetheless, Mr Miller claimed that he and the former board had plans to implement a similar plan before his controversial tenure at the corporation came to an end.
“We had the capability of doing whatever they’re doing ourselves,” he said. “In fact, all they’re doing is really implementing the plan that we were going to put in place. In other words Bahamians are capable of running (BPL) fully. There’s no need for no foreigners to be involved in (BPL). That’s my stance. And I speak on behalf of every board member. Because all that was accomplished in this country with BEC for the last four years was accomplished by us.
“The rates were down about 30 per cent, the lights was on all the time, and we had a programme to make it better. So all they doing is implementing what we were going to implement.”
He added: “We knew exactly what was needed. So this is nothing new except we have new faces and we have a foreign face. That’s the only difference between them and us.”
Last year Mr Davis said after PowerSecure’s management deal was finalized, Bahamians could expect a 40 per cent reduction in electricity costs “immediately.”
During a signing of a five-year management services agreement for BPL in February, Prime Minister Perry Christie also said he was “hopeful that the signing would reduce the cost for electricity for consumers in a significant way.”
However, amidst two weeks of almost daily power outages as the corporation works to meet demand, some have charged that the new deal for the utility provider had resulted in no improvement in electrical services despite assurances by the government.
BEC was renamed BPL earlier this year.
Comments
B_I_D___ says...
He knows he's gonna get his done paid off at the taxpayers expense, so of course he is embracing it...he's laughing his damn a$$ off...
Posted 23 June 2016, 1:52 p.m. Suggest removal
sealice says...
when your "social conscience" only pertains to your buddies it's call cronyism.......
Posted 23 June 2016, 2:14 p.m. Suggest removal
Islandboy242242 says...
Releasing the names of the 3,000 would probably lead to anarchy but can we atleast see the dollar figure that these 3,000 account for?
The first article on this made it sound like 3,000 people had their lights off for an extended period of time and that they are pensioners and older persons. Now this article makes it sound like the total number of delinquent accounts is 3,000---
"He said he has been informed that some 3,000 persons have fallen into this classification, insisting officials now have to look at these clients on a case-by-case basis to determine how best to resolve each matter. "
Posted 23 June 2016, 2:42 p.m. Suggest removal
realfreethinker says...
Something smells here How does an average consumer rack up a bill of over $5000.00 I suspect the average light bill for the lower income is about $300. a month tops so that would suggest that they hadn't paid their power bill for more than a year and I doubt bec would allow you to not pay your bill for that long and keep your light on. I SMELL A RAT HERE
Posted 23 June 2016, 7:01 p.m. Suggest removal
Islandboy242242 says...
Lastly, Mr. Miller says they are doing a favor to the company owned by the public by writing off old debt...but if a company has an unreceivable, or uncollectible account don't most write off the debt and discontinue business with that entity? Writing off a debt and turning the lights back on doesn't sound like the same thing to me...
Posted 23 June 2016, 2:46 p.m. Suggest removal
watcher says...
Miller really should keep his thoughts to himself. Every utterance is just further proof of what an idiot he is. I've always paid my electricity bills on time.......should I now expect a refund, which would only be fair, to match the amount that delinquent accounts will get as a "write off"? Surely we're all in this together?
Posted 23 June 2016, 2:47 p.m. Suggest removal
The_Oracle says...
crooked no good "i'll be at the front of the line" Miller.
Where does this guy get the idea he can stand on any soap box
and espouse anything aside his own corruption?
Shameless.
Rewarding delinquency (power bills, NIB, Property tax, Business license fees, etc etc)
leaving honest bill payers HONORING their obligations to fund their idiocy.
We need a bigger prison and a national day of reckoning on them all!
Posted 23 June 2016, 3:59 p.m. Suggest removal
Sickened says...
said to perfection.
Posted 23 June 2016, 4:27 p.m. Suggest removal
TalRussell says...
Comrades! Not disconnecting power to premises owned by a crown corporation's chairman owing some $200,000 in back light bills is always wrong in normal peoples books. More so wrong, when the individual in 2012 had declared their net worth to be several million dollars. Is there no shame, none at all?
In which way, form or fashion can he be compared to putting someone back on the power grid who is aged, ill, disabled unable to work or have no steady paychecks?
Has he no damn shame. None at all?
Why isn't the reporter providing readers with the details if this man is still owing taxpayers for he damn lights?
Has he now filed his current MP's Financial Disclosure?
If you don't pay the government your VAT, you can't do business with government, so why should you be allowed to remain seated in the peoples honourable House of Assembly when its taxpayers who keep your damn lights connected to the power grid?
Posted 23 June 2016, 5:06 p.m. Suggest removal
Well_mudda_take_sic says...
The problem is not Miller......the problem is Christie! Miller is used time and time again as a convenient distraction by Christie to deflect blame and anger away from the root cause of the problem, i.e. Christie himself!
Posted 23 June 2016, 5:16 p.m. Suggest removal
asiseeit says...
Once again this government is going to reward bad behavior, I guess you help out those most like yourself. The people who have and will continue to pay their bills are the ones that will pay for these 3000, BEC/BPL our bankrupt, mismanaged, power company will just tack on a couple cents more for us the honest ones to pay. Bend over honest Bahamians, you are getting F#@ked again!
Posted 23 June 2016, 5:19 p.m. Suggest removal
realfreethinker says...
So true
Posted 23 June 2016, 7:04 p.m. Suggest removal
BMW says...
They are buying votes at taxpayers expense. Its criminal!!!
Posted 24 June 2016, 5:49 a.m. Suggest removal
ghostwriter242 says...
Apparently doing the right thing doesn't matter in this country anymore because we have governments who will continue to bail out Bahamians who make poor choices. I pay my light bill every month, and there are these slackers who refuse to pay it, yet their debt is forgiven. We will never be better as a people with this kind of thinking.
Posted 24 June 2016, 8:22 a.m. Suggest removal
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