In a communication to Parliament, following the Prime Minister’s announcement of BPL’s fuel surcharge increases, the Minister of Public Works and Utilities, the Hon. Alfred Sears outlined the cash crisis at Bahamas Power and Light which have contributed to the need for a rate rise.
He said, “notwithstanding the global trends, BPL has maintained a fuel charge of 10.5 cents per kilowatt hour. However, as the hedge volumes were declining under the current hedge strategy and the absence of any sign of immediate relief in the market BPL is no longer able to realize any of the benefits from its current hedging that had existed at the outset in July 2020.”
International occurrences such as the war in Ukraine and the pandemic have caused increases in the cost of fuel which have affected BPL. Sears said, “continuing in this manner has become untenable to our power provider and the company must now move to adjust the monthly fuel charge to carry out necessary system transformation and ensure the sustainability of its operations.”
