no. you are not looking for bahamians to run dat.

how come you never see all these nice jobs in the newspapers being advertized?

how come all of a sudden a complete board of directors is appointed in a non transparent manner?

why are all the contracts done in secret?

There are several simple alternatives ......... Let a privatized NPP&L entity with a new LNG plant exist for Nassau and have URCA monitor quality control for all power generation entities in the country.............and privatise each island plant and let them use best "green" practices to provide power for each island ....... case in point, we never hear any complaints about Spanish Wells who run their own power station ....... The same can be done with GB & Emera or create GRABACO Electric....... The smaller islands can go solar or wind completely - or just allow the residents to put in their own solar systems .............. There are surely PPPs that will invest by island ...... Long Islanders wanted to run their power plant from the 1980s. This will cost far less than the $1Billion needed to sort out an obsolete BPL/BEC as it presently exists....

THE BAHAMIAN GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO GET OUT OF THE ELECTRICITY BUSINESS

Privatized? LOL. How stupid are you, Bannister? Yes, private capital is well known for wishing to acquire money-losing assets in heavily unionised companies which suffer from huge political interference and where you cannot collect receivables. And which require billions in new investment on top. Tell the truth: you could not give it away. In fact, even if you gave the bidder $100m, no one would turn up. Tell the truth, Bannister: BPL has huge negative net worth. It will never be privatised because no one of repute will ever want it.

Can we cap BPL's electricity rates for the next 10 years and somehow force Franklyn Wilson a/k/a Snake to buy BPL in exchange for the forgiveness of all debts owing by BEC that can be attributed to the outrageous price gouging over many years by his fuel supply and distribution companies, which debts have in essence since been guaranteed by the Bahamian government?

Companies don,t want BPL ,but they did bid to build own and operate their own plant and guarantee a 28 cent a kl rate .The thing is you have to get them to pick up the family islands also where the smaller ones are not profitable .A number of international companies bid to do this the PLP just would not pull the trigger .Bannister is really saying this ,he knows no company would pay one red cent for BPL , the companies were willing to invest 500 million to build a new plant ,Bannisters just working the numbers ,,maybe let then charge 30 cents a kl and pick up 100 million of the debt .Believe me they are well aware no one on this planet would pay the Government one red cent for BPL

Oldfort is smart.

Lol who is going to buy a company with +50m in debt? With the bulk of it to Frankie Wilson for fuel?

Are you going to offload the legacy debt into RenewBahamas as well?

Come on Bannister. We are THINKING Bahamians - we need a real plan!

Also - Papa left a bad taste in our mouth the way BTC was handled. Marlon Johnson, who ironically happens to be the Financial Secretary at MOF now along with other execs, were paid handsomely by Papa Clown Ingraham to keep quiet on the disservice being done to The Bahamian people. Why should we not expect the same thing with pretty much the same guys in charge?

Every island can take care of its own electricity needs .... we do not need a unionized BEC that is losing precious value for money and corporate currency

I agree with you ....... The Osbourne-Bannister Plan must include ....... URCA de-regulation of electrical supply to each Family Island entity (for privatization) ......... and private sector/household access to solar/wind units for supplying extra power to the privatized BEC ........ If Spanish Wells and GB can do their own power - why can it not work in every other island????? ....... BPL must be like the Central Bank - an electrical watchdog for URCA

They are very gray ........ But if we continue with the PLP new BPL bill ....... how are we going to tell a new Bahamian BPL executive that he/she is not entitled to Pamela Hill $400,000 salary????? This is a trap for the FNM.
They need to tear up the BPL Act and start over - or revert to the old BEC model and ACT until they sell or dissolve BEC once and for all.

My suggestion to fix the issues with BPL is as follows, what needs to happen is the Governent needs to make some sort of deal or sign a contract with FPL (Florida Power & Light) Company. . Once a deal is made and successful the Present Government can then have them run a submarine cable from Fort Lauderdale to Freeport as this is much closer in proximity to Florida. A submarine cable can then be ran into Nassau the capital and then cables can be ran to the various Family Islands. FPL can then build a building in New Providence and Freeport to manage the companies business. The electricity hardly ever goes out year in year out in Florida, reason mainly being that the company has enough electricity to power the cities on the grid and adding The Bahamas to this grid adds hardly any additional load. FPL generates 25 gigawatts of energy with a diverse mix of fuels. FPL obtains most of its electricity from natural gas, followed by Nuclear power, this is enough to power a city the size of New Providence x50.

And that is probably the most economic solution. If someone cared about the consumer. Which they don't. The problem is what to do with all the BPL staff that would make redundant. The fact that we would be totally dependent on the USA is not a real problem....because we are anyway. They can do with us as they please, when they please. Our independence is only a figment of our imagination, anyway.

I agree with you ...... Plus it will cost $1 Billion to modernize BPL to (hopefully) make it profitable ........ and then you still have an entitled and obstinate BEWU and BEMU to deal with ......... Just scrap BPL and run a drop cord from Florida sounds very good right now (but the special interests won't do it).

I wish I could jump on the privatization bandwagon like the rest of you.
However, I can't.
That, for how many years now, we have not managed to get BEC right is telling of us, as Bahamians.
What level of expertise have we not been able to afford?
What is it that the private sector will get right? Plus profits, that we couldn't?
Privatization is no magic bullet.
The only thing that privatizaion will do to succeed, if they do, will be to keep the pillagers and plunderers away from their company.
It doesn't take a genius to figure out what this means.
A brief look at every other enterprise in this country from Bahamas Air to Bank of Bahamas to NIB tells the same story, doesn't it?
Should Bahamians be allowed to fill these crucial roles?
To the detriment of all of the rest of us.
Just an honest question.

Emera comes with its own baggage, but it is a better option than BPL .... But we should not consider Emera as an option for the country except some serious logistical issues are resolved ..... like green energy, unions and costing vs inter-island linkages (one main central generation plant with cables)