Relax! All this article is doing is quoting verbatim from a press release from the GBPA concerning the regulation of energy prices for 2016-2019 for Grand Bahama. At no point in the release is there a mention that the power company is considering a rate rise. The headline to this article is not representative of the release and the headline is in no way is supported by the article itself. Read for yourself here:

http://www.thebahamasweekly.com/publish…

Oh Birdie you are so right. The FNM really screwed the bahamian public over cable Bahamas. They made it possible for cable to be 100% Bahamian owned with over 2700 shareholders. They made it possible for NIB to own 22% of cable and the treasury to own 7 %. They made it possible for me and thousands of bahamians to take part in the IPO and buy cable at $1 per share which today closed at a split adjusted $22.50 per share. That is only an increase of 2250% - How horrible! Cable has appreciated over 100% in the last year, allowed me to retire at 43. Do I sound bitter! Needless to say me and all the other bahamians feel screwed by FNM. How dare they empower and believe in bahamians. Now tell your beloved PLP to give the second cell license to cable so me and 2700 other bahamians can get shafted some more just like what the FNM did to us.

Exactly, there is an exclusive club in this country filled with prominent FNM and PLP, who protect each other and grant favors that the common man can only dream about. My father purchased a piece of property in Nassau from the mother of a former deputy prime minister who was granted it by the crown for $1, needless to say my father who was never granted or given anything in his life paid the real price the property was worth. Such corruption! Dr. Minnis clearly has a serious conflict of interest and should resign, Mr. Miller should pay his BEC bill in full, neither will happen because they are in the good old boys exclusive club, one you and I and most hard working, taxpaying bahamians will never be in. Until bahamians condemn
corruption regardless of party affiliation this country will continue to deteriorate. The FNM and PLP elites are slowly but surely destroying this nation for their own selfish advancement.

Just fantastic! What an achievement in rising to the occasion and setting a national record for good measure. So proud to see the bahamian flag as he celebrated on the track in Beijing.

Oh how corruption is endemic in this country. Who in the FNM will condemn this abuse of power? This is a serious conflict of interest and if Dr. Minnis is a man of integrity he should resign for the good of the party and the country. Of course this will not happen, and is why the FNM is likely to lose the next election again as disenfranchised FNM's continue to defect to the DNA. Stop saying that the PLP is corrupt, we know they are even worse than the FNM, but if you are guilty of such a serious conflict of interest do the honorable thing and just leave. Until there is true accountability and we find politicians who are real statesman who put the common good above their own greedy self- interest this country will continue to deteriorate. The FNM and PLP are slowly but surely destroying this country.

How about a psych test for these delusional, hypocritical, narcissistic, corrupt members of parliament who are destroying our beloved country?

Minister Mitchell in his speech conducts himself more like a street thug than a statesman, it is really quite embarrassing and unbecoming in a cabinet minister, as such a narcissist who takes every slight as a horrific personal insult he is wholly ill-suited to his job of diplomacy, and the country's reputation suffers terribly for it.

It is counterintuitive but a mandated profit is required and standard in an industry where a company has significant market power as cable does in tv services. Otherwise they could deliberately underprice their service to prevent other companies from entering into the market. It is called price dumping. So a mandated profit actually encourages competition. The fact that cable has not had competition despite the fact that their monopoly ended five years ago is testament to how unprofitable basic tv is and why they deserve their price increase and then some. Content providers make a lot more profit in the current environment than service providers. So your argument is false. Cable is not gouging the public as you erroneously say. Again all else you say about cable might be true but supfurflous to this point.

What you have said is irrelevant to your erroneous statement that cable is gouging the public on its basic service. Which part of cable earning a profit margin of less than the mandated 10.86% on basic do you not understand? This has been independently verified by external auditors and accepted by URCA. The fact is that by earning less than the mandated 10.86% on basic cable is itself being gouged! Save your erroneous populace rhetoric for people without access to intelligence and facts!

You get what you pay for. It is true that basic programming leaves a lot to be desired, but what do you expect when the cost has not increased one cent in over 20 years! All the while the expenses associated with providing this service have increased drastically. And you say cable is gouging its customers - absolute nonsense. Cable is earning less than the mandated rate of return of 10.86% on basic. So URCA in not granting a price increase is forcing cable to be in violation of its own rules - utter nonsense again. If the price were increased then cable would be able to provide a better product and service. And the business license fees and URCA fees cable pays are 5.8 million a year! That is outrageous on annual revenue of 150 million and a net income of only 11.3million. And this is what you call gouging! In a real way cable is really only working to pay salaries and taxes, it's net income could and should be much higher if it were regulated fairly. It would be helpful if your argument were supported by the facts but it is not, the truth is cable deserves every cent of this increase and then some.