By ANNELIA NIXON

Tribune Business Reporter

anixon@tribunemedia.net

A 50 percent rebate on the base rate for the next billing cycle offered to residents of several Family Islands experiencing power woes isn’t satisfactory, according to some.

With power woes hitting multiple Family Islands, Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) announced yesterday that a 50 percent rebate on the base rate would be provided to residents of Long Island, Cat Island and Eleuthera for the next billing cycle. While some residents have expressed appreciation for the gesture, they are still not pleased with the state of service BPL provides and some have argued that the rebate isn’t sufficient.

“If those people feel that giving us a discount on a one-month or whatever electricity bill, they better think again,” Annette Young, who resides in Eleuthera, said. “It’s absolutely ridiculous. They have no clue of the position we are in here. Every day somewhere on this damn island is out of power. Those people down south are suffering. No power in the morning, no power at night, the clinics, the schools, everybody is out of power at any time, any day. And for them to think that giving us a rebate...Yeah, sure, fine and dandy, some people will really be happy with that, because they could use the funding towards the appliances that have been all burnt to hell.

“I can’t even consider the rebate as a happy means to anything. What is it that they’re doing? They’re just giving us pennies on a bill? For what? Yeah, fine and dandy. It’s a great gesture. But for what, if they’re not going to give a better gesture in terms of getting the damn equipment updated. Wouldn’t it be better to keep the bills low until you can get the generators in here?”

Another Eleutheran, Kelly Lash, added that he prefer the money go toward “some decent equipment”.

“Having 50 bucks off my bill for next month is not going to help [that I’m] working in the dark. I think a lot of the people in Eleuthera appreciate at least the effort to drop their bills, but we’d much rather see them get everything fixed.”

Jill Smith, owner and operator of Stella Maris, questioned if the rebate also applied to businesses, adding that residents in Long Island deserve any discount BPL is offering. However, she argued that 50 percent off the base rate would be “okay if they had normal fuel surcharges.”

“I think a 50 percent discount on the base rate is okay if they had normal fuel surcharges,” she said. “But it doesn’t reflect fairly on our electricity bills. My electricity bill is $220 and my fuel surcharge is $350. How? Where are they getting these fuel surcharge prices from? Where in the world has fuel gone up? Oil has not changed. Oil in America right now, wherever the frig we get our oil from has not gone up.

“I was reading something the other day where the minister was saying that in the summertime, we revert to a more crude oil version, I guess, to supply the generators, because the demand is more, obviously, because more people are using appliances during the summer, AC, what have you. Whereas in the winter months, we can revert, because the consumption is not so high, they can revert back to different generators that goes with a different fuel.

“But to me, it’s flipsy flopsy. You already know the consumption is more in the summer, but still, there’s no reflection on these fuel surcharges. So a 50 percent reduction on my base rate would be okay if they stop charging us these outrageous fuel surcharges. And that’s what’s pissing Bahamian people off. It’s like I said, these outrageous fuel surcharges that are higher than your electricity bill. Nobody would mind if your bill was $200 and they tell you, ‘Okay, your fuel surcharge is $50. Everybody pitch in $50.’ But you can’t have an electricity bill of $220 and your fuel surcharge is $350. No. Make it make sense. And this is what’s outraging people.”