BEL charged in court for defying PUC
Posted: 05/02/2010 - 11:11 AM
Author: Adele Ramos - adelescribe@gmail.com
The legal disputes between the country’s major distributor of power, the Belize Electricity Limited (BEL) and the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), charged with regulating the sector, took a new turn this week, when BEL was summoned to the Belize City Magistrate’s Court to answer for not filing a tariff application required in law.
In court, BEL requested an adjournment, which puts the case forward to April.
PUC chairman, John Avery, told Amandala today that because the 2008 tariffs remain in effect, BEL owes consumers $35 million—money that the company has access to, interest-free, for as long as electricity rates remain the same.
Electricity rates should have gone down, because of the fall in world oil prices after record highs in 2008, Avery explained.
Under law, BEL undergoes a Full Tariff Review Period (FTRP) every 5 years, and an annual review every year in between.
“It’s simple,” said Avery. “They did not do what they were required in law, so we filed a complaint with the court.”
The PUC said that the Full Tariff Review Period was due to begin last July, and the application was due by January 21, 2009—more than a year ago—and BEL has still not filed, citing a pending case in the Supreme Court. The new rates should have been implemented last July.
Avery said that after BEL missed the deadline, the PUC gave the company three more chances to comply, and it has not; so the PUC took the matter to court.
Section 7(2) of the Electricity Act, Chapter 221 of the Laws of Belize, says that upon summary conviction, the maximum fine for contravening the by-laws is $5,000 or 6 months in prison, or both.
If an officer of BEL were to face imprisonment upon conviction, said Avery, it would be a person (at the board or management level) who would have been in the position to see to it that the legal requirement for BEL to file the FTRP application was carried out.
The dispute between PUC and BEL is much broader, however, as BEL is challenging the PUC on previous rate decisions, as well.
Avery explained that BEL is challenging a decision that the Public Utilities Minister, Melvin Hulse, made in 2008 to reverse a statutory instrument passed by his predecessor, Ralph Fonseca.
BEL contends that it has a good case and on that basis, it won’t file the FTRP application the PUC has been asking for, Avery explained.
BEL has not issued a release on this more recent development. Our attempts to reach BEL’s CEO, Lynn Young, and communications manager, Dawn Sampson, proved futile. We e-mailed our questions, but at the time of this writing, had not received a reply.
BEL was represented in court by Young’s Law Firm.
The BEL board is chaired by Rodwell Williams, SC, of the Barrow & Williams law firm of Belize City. Williams is chairman by virtue of the Government of Belize’s ownership of the special share in BEL. (Williams is the law partner of Prime Minister Dean Barrow.)
Government is a minority shareholder in BEL (with holdings by the Social Security Board), while Fortis Inc., of Canada, is the majority shareholder of 68% shareholding in the company.
BEL’s deputy chairman is Stan Marshall, president and CEO of Fortis, who does not live in Belize.
|