Will Guatemala Solve Belize’s Energy Woes?

Belize’s energy crisis continues to make headlines. From shortages in domestic generation capacity, to failing electricity supply from Mexico and increasing complaints of high electricity bills, the government says it is actively working to meet the country’s electricity demand. On Monday, Minister of Public Utilities Michel Chebat outlined several government initiatives. Among them, the Briceno administration is exploring interconnection opportunities with neighboring Guatemala. News Five has previously reported on the initiative, and Minister Chebat echoed that position once again.

 

Michel Chebat, Minister of Public Utilities

“Electricity demand is therefore growing but our domestic generation capacity has not expanded at the same pace. As a result, Belize continues to depend heavily on imported electricity, particularly from Mexico. That interconnection remains extremely important to our electricity system. But excessive dependence on any single external sources, exposes Belize to international price vitality, supply constraints, and circumstances beyond our control. The government therefore recognizes that energy security requires us to produce more of the electricity we produce here at home. That transition cannot happen overnight. Generation projects require financing, land, environmental approval, transmission infrastructure, procurement and construction. But the important message today is that Belize is no longer simply discussing the problem. We are pursuing solutions. The Government has been pursuing a diversified strategy that includes new solar generation, battery energy storage, strengthening BEL’s investment capacity, expanding access through microgrids and standalone systems, improving the national transmission and distribution network and exploring greater regional interconnection including opportunities with Guatemala.”

 

Meter or Malfunction? BEL Says Check Appliances First

 

If your electricity bill suddenly spikes, the problem may not always be with the meter. Belize Electricity Limited says it regularly investigates customer complaints, sending technicians into homes to inspect wiring, test equipment and review energy usage. According to Executive Chairman Lynn Young, those inspections sometimes uncover faulty appliances or electrical issues inside the home that are quietly driving up consumption. He explains how the process works.

 

Lynn Young, Executive Chairman, BEL

“I don’t know what the PUC does, but we have equipment that we can analyzer usage. So some of the things we do, is we would put an analyzer on the person’s meter or their thing, and it would analyze it. We have found instances where there have been malfunctions in equipment at people’s homes and we can give them advice on what is causing it. So, the investigation has done that. We look over their history. We look to see if there were some arrears that they did not realize. Those are the kind of things we do. But for sure we have these analyzers we can put on your system, on your house, and it analyzer the power consumption. And if there is nobody at home and there is a spike we know that there is some equipment in there that is malfunctioning and a lot of times we are able to find what equipment is malfunctioning and we show the customer and they are able to address it.”

 

Minister of Public Utilities Michel Chebat says any decision to remove GST from electricity bills would have to be examined by Cabinet.

 

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.

 

Watch the full newscast here: