But, the company is hoping that its customers will place last year's boom in profits in the proper context. Today, the BEL Chairman reminded the public that there is a running regulatory account balance. This is a detailed assessment of the relationship between BEL as the service provider, and the Belizean consumers, which changes from year to year.
Chairman Marshalleck told us that because of past years, where electricity rates were lowered in times when the cost of power was very high, the net balance is still very much slanted in the company's favor. He explained why:
E. Andrew Marshalleck - Chairman, BEL Board of Director
"As you know, the price of electricity are regulated and are fixed by the regulator. So, that's something that the regulator keeps in mind when they are fixing rates that Belizean consumers have to pay for electricity. As you're aware, rates have fallen twice already in this year, not by very much, and the reason for that is because the - there's a regulatory account balance that's kept, where, when the rates are set too low, consumers end up owing BEL to cover the cost of power. The balance accumulates in the regulatory account. That account had a fairly high balance because rates in previous years are always - the tendency is to fix them as low as possible. And they tend to be too low to cover the cost of power. So, this relief that we got last year, allowed for some of that balance to be covered, bring it more in balance, given the history of that account. So, this relief that we're experiencing in the reduced cost has allowed that account to be brought more into balance, but there's still a significant balance in favor of BEL on that account."
