LOO Tracy Panton says her light bill jumped from $200 to $656; UDP proposes one-year GST relief on light bill

Breaking Belize News Staff: Leader of the Opposition Tracy Taegar-Panton says her own Belize Electricity Limited bill has more than tripled, as the UDP calls for a package of emergency measures to ease the burden on consumers.

Speaking at a press conference Wednesday, Panton said she lives alone and is frequently away from home but saw her electricity bill rise from just under $200 to more than $656. She argued that increases of that magnitude cannot be explained by the recently introduced Cost of Power Adjustment alone and called for an independent investigation into disputed bills.

Among the measures proposed by the UDP is the removal of GST from electricity charges wherever it applies for an initial 12-month period, suspension of disconnections and late penalties on genuinely disputed bills, an independent audit of contested accounts and meter readings, and expansion of the social tariff for low-income households, pensioners and vulnerable consumers.

BEL confirmed that the PUC-approved COPA for August is 1.5 cents per kilowatt-hour. The utility says its actual cost of power during the preceding six months was 4.3 cents per kilowatt-hour above the approved reference cost, but the new mechanism limits monthly increases to 1.5 cents.

BEL Executive Chairman Lynn Young has also said customers unable to immediately meet unusually high bills can request payment arrangements. The UDP argues payment plans do not address the more fundamental question of whether disputed bills are accurate.

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