Belize City, Wednesday, February 3, 2010

A single charge of failure to submit a Full Tariff Review Proceeding (FTRP) to the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) was read in Magistrate’s Court today as the PUC took Belize Electricity Limited to court. BEL employee Jason Rivers, the Manager of Financial reports and records at BEL was present to respond for the company.

The charge reads that BEL since the 21st of January 2009, in Belize City, being a Public

There is a period within which BEL as a licensee would want to make rates adjustments, and under the law there must be a review presented so BEL must submit that proposal and the PUC will then consider it. But as the charge reads, PUC is alleging that BEL failed to do so.

Rivers, who was in court to answer to the charge, pleaded not guilty to the charge and the matter was adjourned for April 8. In court, the question of bail was not an issue as PUC had dealt with the matter by summons of which there was no arrest made since BEL is charged as a company and not an individual.

In matter like these, the entities involved after the matter is put in the hands of the police, can either send a summons for the company to appear or issue a warrant for the arrest of the person. In this case, there was no warrant and no one was arrested as Rivers just appeared before the court to answer to the charges on behalf of the company, BEL.

Attorney representing BEL, Darrell Bradley explains that apart from preparing a full tariff review, BEL as part of the law must also make notice in the local newspaper and have local consultation and meet with PUC then an agreement will be decided on reasonable electricity rates.

Chairman of the regulatory body, John Avery explains that presently based on cost of power, BEL owes consumers some 35 million dollars. He says that it has been 18 months since BEL took the PUC to court over the last rate review and since that time another review should have already been done. BEL, however, is using the court case to not submit the FTRP. Avery contends that the case should have been settled before the end of the tariff period was done. We are now seven months into a new tariff period and still there are no new rates set for the new tariff period which is set from for the first of July to June 30 of every year. The rate which was set in 2008 was to have run up to June 30, 2009. Avery says that a new rate review should have been done last year to take effect from July 1, 2009.

Avery says the present situation is unacceptable and says that “we need to move forward, we need to have a rate review”. Under the ordinary course of things, BEL should have been making its annual rate review proceedings in April of this year.