By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

PUBLIC anger over skyrocketing electricity bills in Grand Bahama boiled over yesterday as both FNM leader Michael Pintard and West Grand Bahama and Bimini MP Kingsley Smith demanded urgent action from the Grand Bahama Power Company, accusing it of crippling residents with predatory charges.

Mr Pintard led a protest outside the company’s headquarters, where supporters chanted “Fix My Bill” as he declared electricity costs had reached crisis levels. He urged residents to publish their bills online using the hashtag #FixMyBill to hold the company accountable, saying some customers have been hit with charges well over $1,000.

“Over the past few weeks, electricity bills have jumped to shocking levels,” he said. “This is not a small issue; in fact, it is a crisis.”

Mr Smith, the West Grand Bahama and Bimini MP, released a blistering statement, describing the bills as “outrageous, unjustifiable, and frankly, predatory.” He said he shared the shock of residents who have seen their charges soar despite little or no change in consumption.

“I have heard your calls, I have seen your bills, and I have felt the same shock and frustration when opening my own,” Smith said. He added that after travelling abroad for two separate two-week periods and leaving only essential appliances on, his bills were nearly identical to months of normal usage. “There is no logical explanation for this other than a profound disconnect between what we are being charged and the power we are actually consuming,” he said.

Both men questioned GB Power’s billing and fuel practices, with Mr Pintard stressing that fuel charges now account for nearly half of monthly bills, despite global oil prices declining. He accused the company of operating with costs nearly four times higher than in Miami, where customers pay about 14 cents per kilowatt-hour compared to as much as 55 cents in Grand Bahama.

He also criticised service reliability and blasted both the Grand Bahama Port Authority and the Davis administration for failing to act. “They cannot continue to sit on their hands while residents carry the weight of these rising costs. They want to regulate; they need to act like regulators,” he said, adding that the government remained silent until one of its own MPs received a high bill.

Mr Smith went further, accusing the company of behaving like a “tyrannical monopoly” driven by profit. “We cannot allow this tyrannical monopoly to operate unchecked, driven solely by the insatiable desire for profit to satiate their shareholders,” he said.

The two MPs echoed calls for greater transparency, an independent audit of GBPC’s billing system, clarity on regulation between the GBPA and URCA, and penalties for outages and blackouts. They warned that families are being forced to choose between electricity and essentials like food and rent.

“Electricity is not a luxury; it is a necessity,” Mr Pintard said. “This has to stop.”

Mr Smith called it a public emergency. “Something must be done, and it must be done now,” he said.