By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Super Value’s president is asserting that energy costs “seem out of hand” after the supermarket chain’s electricity bill increased by almost $200,000 in just two months.

Debra Symonette told Tribune Business that, following a 29.3 percent month-over-month jump in its electricity costs from April to May 2025, the company has now sustained a further 24 percent month-over-month rise in energy costs via its just-arrived bill for June. This has resulted in a near-40 percent increase in power bills expenses for the 2025 half-year.

Reiterating that the 13-store chain has no plans to increase food prices for consumers, despite the $194,184 increase in electricity costs in just two months, she confirmed that Super Value will meet with Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) officials “shortly” to explain the bills it was receiving.

Ms Symonette told this newspaper that Super Value was struggling to determine what had caused such a spike in energy costs. While the supermarket chain is analysing its electricity consumption patterns to determine if that is the source, she added that checks to see if power is “being lost through grounding” had proven negative.

And, having invested in a business-wide solar energy roll-out, she pointed to discrepancies between the BPL bills received for separate Super Value store locations. While its Nassau Street location had enjoyed a 2 percent decrease in electricity costs, its stores at Golden Gates, Robinson Road, Prince Charles Drive and East Street had seen their bills surge by between 64 percent and 75 percent.

The Super Value president, noting that electricity costs were moving in the opposite direction to what many Bahamian businesses and households had expected based on previous assertions from the Government, said that after the 29.3 percent jump between April and May “they’ve gone up another 24 percent from May to June”.

“That makes it 39 percent over last year,” Ms Symonette told Tribune Business. “Year-to-date it’s gone up 39 percent over last year. This is despite us having solar and many items, such as eggs, being price controlled.” With increases of $79,563 and $114,621, Super Value’s monthly electricity costs have soared by a combined $194,184 in just two months to June 2025.

“It cuts into the bottom line,” she added of the impact. “It will affect the profits, but we’re still trying to maintain our prices. It’s knocked $194,000 off the bottom line. You just wonder where it’s going to end. I think the whole country’s confused about power. It’s going up and they were saying it was going to come down. We were looking forward to a big reduction in our bill...

“Nassau Street is down 2 percent, but East Street was up 75 percent, and Prince Charles Drive by 73 percent. Golden Gates was up 64 percent, and Robinson Road by 66 percent. Quality Supermarkets increased by 61 percent at Winton, and our warehouse meter was up by 95 percent. It seems out of hand.”

The Davis administration said that under its equity rate adjustment structure for BPL bills, which took effect in July 2024, the state-owned utility’s largest energy consumers - its general service customer class - would pay more via higher electricity costs.

It warned that this group, which would include the likes of Super Value and other food store chains as well as major hotels, “will pay more. Their electricity bills will still be lower than during the same month in 2023. After the changes they will still be benefiting from a discounted rate and will still be receiving a subsidy.

“They will also gain from new energy reforms, as transmission and distribution upgrades will increase efficiencies and improve reliability which, along with the integration of solar power and natural gas, will produce meaningfully lower prices in the coming months and years,” the Government promised. However, in the short-term, energy costs for the largest consumers were to increase.

But pointing out that Super Value has not altered its energy management and usage policies, nor knowingly done anything to prompt a major spike in consumption, Ms Symonette added of BPL: “We’re going to have them in shortly so that they can go over the bill with us, but we’re going to analyse how much is related to consumption.

“May to June to July, we didn’t use electricity more year-to-date; not to the extent of a 40 percent increase. We conserve. We’ve put in energy-saving bulbs; we save energy everywhere and anywhere we can. It’s despite solar and despite our great efforts to be as energy efficient as possible.

“After last time we had an electrician check for grounding to see if we were losing electricity through grounding. Every location was checked and we were not losing anything through grounding,” she added. “They’ve [BPL] offered to come and explain it, and we welcome the opportunity at this time.

“It’s gone up almost 40 percent for the year, and month-to-month it’s gone up 29.3 percent and 24 percent. Next month, is it going to double? It is going to increase by 28 percent, 30 percent a month?”

Ms Symonette spoke after BPL, while not naming the company involved, earlier this week seemingly responded to Super Value’s concerns over the 29.3 percent month-over-month increase between April and May by suggesting the jump was caused by higher consumption due to lowering the temperature on coolers and air conditioners as a result of the warmer summer weather.

The increased energy consumption, BPL added, was exacerbated by “fluctuations in global fuel market prices” which were passed on to consumers via a $0.017 per kilowatt hour (KWh) unit increase in the fuel charge component of their bills. The state-owned utility added that increased energy demand meant it was also having to employ more rental generation that uses diesel - its most expensive fuel.

“While we understand the particular customer’s concerns, our records indicate that the primary cause for the increase in their bill was a significant increase in the entity’s usage of electricity compounded with the fuel charge increase,” said BPL.

“Our customer service team is actively communicating with this and other customers to ensure that any concerns are addressed, and that any questions regarding billings are resolved with direct engagement and transparency.”

And not all major BPL consumers have seen a significant spike in their electricity costs. Walter Wells, Caribbean Bottling Company’s president and chief executive, told Tribune Business that the local Coca-Cola producer has not “seen any gyrations” or sudden increases in its bills apart from May, which he said was likely due to there being more days in that billing period.

“It’s funny you should ask me about that,” he said. “I looked at our bill this morning. There’s not been a huge turnaround except in May. Our bill popped up because it had more days than the previous month. But when I look at our bills, they’ve been pretty consistent through to June.

“We’ve not seen any gyrations in our bills. It only changed because consumption went up or the number of days in the month went up. I don’t know if we’ve got a big bill coming this month for July. Time will tell. I’m not sure why others are seeing a huge increase one way or another. I have no clue why that would be. We’ll have to wait and see what July holds for us.”

BPL, in its advice to businesses, said: “It is common to see seasonal increases in electricity consumption during the summer months, particularly for commercial operations that rely heavily on air conditioning and refrigeration. Even when business hours remain the same, these systems often operate for longer periods and with greater intensity to maintain set temperatures, which can lead to higher energy usage.

“This higher consumption directly results in higher billings. BPL wishes to remind and encourage its customers to employ energy efficient equipment and to ensure that their equipment is properly maintained and serviced - particularly going into the summer months - to reduce consumption and maximise efficiency as much as possible. This may include activity such as cleaning of refrigeration coils and ensuring proper airflow for such equipment.”