Right now at the Biltmore, BEL is having its annual general meeting. But there's not much to celebrate because after turning a modest 2 million dollar profit in 2011, for 2012, the power company is declaring a 16 million dollar loss.
The company says that's because they had to pay back consumers 30 million dollars in one year – and that was payback for the low cost of power between 2008 and 2011 which was not reflected in the rates at that time.
But in 2012, the cost of power skyrocketed while rates lagged and that's what created a 16 million dollar loss out of an impressive 193.2 million dollars in gross revenue.
But even with that, BEL is declaring a very modest dividend of five cents per share.
It is of note that growth in the electricity sector was what the economists would call robust: In 2012, electricity demand increased by 8 per cent and the Company attracted 1,684 new customers.
In a trying financial year, a release boasts that the company managed to keep the lights on without a government bailout.
