And while selling sugar locally, may be a far off, or symbolic hope, selling electricity locally is a sine qua non for the company. It has embedded power generation into its core functions, but it has not found the most willing partner in BEL.
Last year, the power company had to be compelled by an order of the Public Utilities Commission to sign a Power Purchase Agreement with BEL last year - and that still hasn't happened because BEL challenged it in court.
Today, the Santander Executives said that for them it is a win-win situation for the country, but they're not seeing it yet:
David Rodriguez, C.F.O., Santander
"The public utility commission made their analysis and they got a ruling based on the numbers and rate of return and what is better for the country and they make a ruling with a new set of tariffs. This year we are close to 40 million, so at the end this is something good for the country and a good price agreed with all the partners involved. This is energy produced in Belize. You don't have to get US currency to pay to other generator, so at the end it is something good and it got stuck between two entities and its affecting us and affecting our suppliers and our investment. because we achieve the price level that was mandatory by the PUC last season."
BEL has said that it supports signing a power purchase agreement with Santander - but wishes to negotiate with them directly and not have the PUC do it on their behalf.
