Seventy-Three Million Dollars to Rescue BEL

With rolling blackouts and BEL facing serious financial trouble, the government wants Senate approval to invest more than seventy-three million dollars in the utility. Officials say the money will keep BEL operating and help it pay creditors. But opposition senators question whether the investment solves BEL’s problems or simply forces taxpayers to bail it out.

 

Eamon Courtenay, Lead Government Senator

“The preference shares the deal of course is exhibited to the bill provides for the government to take preference shares of two dollars per value and as seven dollar period on the shares. The shares of course will earn up to five percent dividends and if the dividends declared by BEL in any year in excess of the five percent of the government will also enjoy the benefit of the upside of those dividend declaratioN.”

 

Patrick Faber, UDP Senator

“We don’t want BEL to fail. Every business, every hospital, every school, hotel, water system in this country, depends on a reliable supply of electricity. Prolonged load shedding would hurt everybody and so would any break in supply from CFE. This debate Mr. President, therefore, is not about whether one supports BEL, it is about how the company came to need this money, whether the seventy-three million deals with the causes or only the symptoms and whether the money will be protected and what will change so that we are not back in this chamber in three years’ time asking for more money to be thrown at BEL.”

 

Faber questioned whether the bail out would adequately address the underlying problems of poor long-term planning, dependence on imported energy, rising generation costs, and regulatory shortcomings that contributed to the crisis.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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