"*quoted Dr Moxey as saying the new billing structure would "function as a short-term deposit" that will ultimately enable consumers to enjoy longer term savings from reduced fuel costs and more efficient generation plant.*"

the operative word here is "ultimately". Will it *ultimately* be seen by you or your great grands in 2100?

In other words "you all light bill going up high".

So you're saying the bill will be going up in the hope (most likely false hope) that the bill goes down in...errrr..4-5 years? After all the load shedding, burnt up appliances, hot sweaty nights where you can't cook, wash, bathe, post-Dorian effects on the entire Bahamas in one way shape or form, and Christmas coming that an increase on our BPL bills is OK, and that we should brace for it?

Translation: Another “temporary” add-on fee that you’ll be paying as part of your electric bill for the rest of your natural life. And, as a “bonus,” those who actually pay their electric bill every month will be subsidizing those who don’t. Only in the Bahamas ...

Let's try connect all of the dots here:

As a result of decades of fraud and mismanagement, BEC was forced to borrow more and more.....BEC was only able to borrow more and more because the borrowings were guaranteed by the government (the taxpayers).....BEC's borrowings (the debt) finally reached the point where there was no possibility of it being repaid, even if it drastically increased the rates it charged its customers for electricity......BEC's lenders and creditors started threatening to call on the government as guarantor to repay the amounts owed to them by BEC.....under pressure from (and at the direction of) the international lending and credit rating agencies, the government renamed BEC to BPL a few years ago and similtaneously transferred BEC's debt to a special purpose vehicle (SPV).....this was done with the understanding the debt would remain guaranteed by the government pending the creation of a satisfactory scheme to restructure and refinance it, and also directly secure its repayment by means other than the government guarantee......the scheme created will result in new debt reduction bonds being issued to repay BEC's old debt.....the new debt reduction bonds are to be directly secured by an undertaking from BPL to charge its customers for electricity at rates high enough to generate whatever amount of revenue would be necessary to repay the interest and principal amounts as they fall due to the bondholders......meanwhile BPL as the new victim of the same types of fraud and corruption that went on at BEC for decades, is piling on new debt to its lenders and creditors that is of course guaranteed by the government.....and so round and round we go.....BPL's customers are about to be hit with outrageously high and unaffordable electricity bills in what will undoubtedly be a failed effort to repay not only the debts racked up by the old BEC, but also the new debts currently being racked up by BPL. My oh my!

Thank you for taking the time to clarify the craziness of this whole "scheme" as you rightly say.

Honestly, am I living in some stoned out zombie land movie where everything is reversed and out of sequence? How and why should I be paying more for less. And when I say less I mean less power supply (cause it always shutting off) I also mean less usage because they done burn out several big ticket items that used to be plugged in and are now in the fuckin' garbage!!!!

BEC abuses you, and then tells you to be grateful for the abuse. Give me more , pleeease. We will never be better as long as we give jobs to unqualified favorites!

Wait so i will be penalized more due to the fact that i pay my bill on time? Which idiot thought this up? I best start not paying my bill in full so i can save some money. Then i am penalized because governments for the last 30 odd years have not had the will power to do the right thing by BEC. Dam just when you think this country can't get any worse they prove you wrong. I've always thought there will come a day when the riots we see all over the world will come to Bay, seems to be getting closer and closer to that day.

Too further add to all the comments above.. because of the power insecurity created on their watch it will further cause the interest rates on this bond process to be through the roof...

The Bahamian tax payer will get stuck with paying for the very high interest after already paying for these engines, rental units and high salaries...that have all happened under the present leadership.

You would think at some point they would realize how the country views them and just go away...yet here they are...again. No one believes or respects anything any of them have to say.

Amen, just add the Bahamas to the list of those that Mr. Trump considers shit hole countries.............

And still there is no privitization of BEC/BPL. Surely this has been the last straw and people insisted it was privitized? They should have done so long ago. (Its not as if keeping it in public hands leads to low rates)

Putting it in private hands is the only guarantee this will not happen again. Every incentive is there precisely for it to happen again! (no one is representing the interest of the wider public in all matters relating to BPL, so if no one will then you might as well just sell it off and at least private owners will be in charge of it and at least the bleeding will stop as far as direct soaks of the public)

concerned, you have it backwards. Were we to hire competent management, available worldwide, to run our national companies, we would have efficient services minus the big profits that privatization has built in. Any surpluses, and yes in a well run organization that would be built in, would be the Bahamian people's. Only for lack of seeing how proper planning and competence can lead to success, are we mentally stuck on "this is the best we can do". It's not.

So, how about all Nassuvians who experience power cuts frequently and at the most inopportune times simply zero their consumption?
Those who can buy generators and supply themselves and a few neighbors (ala shanty town hookups) so as to Bankrupt BEC/BPL in short order would be a powerful statement for ending the a) service abuse b) cost abuse c) appliance abuse d) political control e) Union buggering over what is or has become an intrinsic right whether bills are paid or not.
I mean, based on the 5 year political "power turn on scheme while bundling old power bill debts (ala housing crisis) and we promise to turn you on if you promise to pay the current bill and stay current" it must be rgognised as a basic human right.
Personally i'd love a business model that allows me to fail consistently and reliably without any onus to improve and with endless access to customer money.
We need a national wall of shame. Opposite the Bahamian in sports wall of fame of course.
Perhaps our national awards or medals would then be worth achieving.

Aboslute robbery!
Please let us know which former BEC/ BPL executive was punished for their stupidity and teefin! Not one!
Time to go off Grid - imagine a company that steals, lies, loses money, becomes disfunctional, charges nassau clients for outisland services and fuel losses, and then hey their skills include charging nassuvians additional fees for an fing loan to cover it all! Wow! Shame on you BPL and every person who stole from it. Come on Mr PM and Mr AG do something about this injustice please.

The people are only subsets of the culture. It is pervasive. Beyond a handful of miscreants. This is nationwide. We grew up with it and don't honestly expect it to change. I have lived in a country where I thought the ratio was about 85% to 15%. Honest to dishonest people. Here, I believe those percentages are completely reversed here in The Bahamas. And, that may be overly generous in the honesty department.

Come over to Abaco and watch 3 birds and a goat rebuild the entire infrastructure

Time for an Alternative Power Supply?

Pass a law where all Public servants get a Rate Reduction Pension Plan equal to their ministrys debt divided by the number of red plate vehicles in the parking lot as a payroll deduction to an independent Treasury account owned by a co-op of bill paying citizens?