Elections are fast approaching and a fair assessment would be that a lot is happening for the Belizean public in increments since the start of the year. Later in the newscast, we'll show you how the Ministry of Works has signed contracts to green light canal dredging in Southside Belize City. But first, we deal with the fact that another of your utilities is set to be lowered. That's right. The Public Utilities Commission held a press conference at the Radisson Fort George Hotel's Santa Rita Room to announce to the public that they've decided to lower the rates at the Belize Water Services Limited. Barring any objections by the licensee - in this case BWSL - water rates are set to go down by as much as 7.2% as soon as February 8. Here's what the PUC's Chairman had to say about the proposed reduction:
John Avery - PUC Chairman
"What I described, there generally were the determinations of the commission and the overall result is an average 7.2% reduction in rates for all branches except for the Caye Caulker branch. We did not do anything for Caye Caulker at this time. The system in Caye Caulker has not performed as expected. The amount of customers that we had expected did not materialize, and, therefore, the amount of consumption that we expected has not materialized also. If we apply what we approved in the FTRP (Full Tariff Review Proceeding) and would make adjustments, it would suggest that we would need to increase the rates in Caye Caulker by 60%. We believe this would be a barrier to even getting more customers and would actually force people to lower their consumption. And so the commission to treat Caye Caulker differently, we basically accept that it's in a transitional period right now."
"The previous rate in Belize was $8.62 for the first thousand gallons."
Alfonso Noble, Guardian
"In the other municipalities Belmopan was consumin_g?"
John Avery
"If you notice water only for the mainland was $8.62. Water and sewer in Belmopan was $10.34 and now that has been reduced to $9.60. Water and sewer in san Pedro was at $25.27, which has been reduced to $23.45. So the rates you see now are basically a direct 7.2% reduction from what was previously approved."
"Again, like I said, Caye Caulker remains the same, so the rates approved this time for Caye Caulker were the same rates approved in the Full Tariff Review Proceeding (FTRP)."
Alfonso Noble, Guardian
"This is an initial decision. What's the process right now?"
John Avery
"Similar to the situation with BEL (Belize Electricity Limited) the license being BWS in this instance and any interesting party representing users of 10% of the water consumed can object, can make comments and can object to the initial decision - and they have 15 days. So the deadline for objections and comments is February 7th, 2012 which is on a Tuesday. If they object, if any interested party that qualifies or if the licensee objects, then the process continues and we are required to appoint an independent expert."
Again, as noted in the interview, the decision is only in its initial stages. If BWSL or 10% of the shareholder objects, all parties must return to negotiations.
