I am so sick of the Bahamas Electricity Cooperation!

Why?

In the area I live in at least 3 times a week the electricity is disrupted for hours for load sharing or some other stupid reason.

I’ve been working at a store downtown for 4 months now and it so happens that the electricity here only has been off once in 4 months, and it was only off for 2 Minutes!

I’m just tired of the constant outages and the unfair treatment of consumers

B.E.C needs new management and new equipment because they both are ineffective ! ! !

Several things should be done at BEC. Some are strategic, some are tactical:

1. The preventive maintenance programme must be given priority.
2. We must move to the point where there is more than enough capacity to meet peak demand.
3. Power generation should be distributed.
4. The network should be set up so that power can be supplied from different sources.
5. BEC should be restructured so its focus is solely on producing and supplying power. They should not operate all the other businesses they operate e.g. garage, construction company, etc.
6. BEC should pay interest on deposits or convert the deposits to ordinary shares in the company.
7. BEC should pay for the power poles and lines to new subdivisions or to houses in isolated areas.
8. BEC should have performance standards that should be known and performance comparisons to the standards should be published.
9. One of those standards should be BEC should not be off more than a day every 18 months in any area.

We can do better. Will we?

The cost of electricity is too high and contributes to making us less competitive. Reduce the cost of electricity and the cost and quality of living improves.

B.E.C - Bahamas' Electricity Curse - that's what they are - no more, probably less. I usually listen with interest to what Bradley Roberts (the M.P.) has to say (he says it loudly enough)and surely when he assumed responsibility for BEC I took him at his word when he said that BEC's management would do better or heads would roll. Then came the murmurings from the honourable House of Assembly. Sad to say though, it seems like the man really in charge at BEC, is Bradley Roberts (the other one). Throughout all of this, he (Bradley Roberts, the General Manager) has shown that actions DO speak louder than words. He and his inept band of angels of darkness continue on - business as usual, power cuts here, power cuts there, power cuts everywhere! So what do we the suffering public want? We want the real Bradley Roberts, the one who is really in charge of BEC, to stand up!! Light up our lives and lighten the load! This is the only form of loadshedding we need!!! If the burden is too heavy for this administration, just let us know - and in 2007 we'll lighten the load!

I too have come to the conclusion that BEC needs new leadership. The public needs performance from BEC. The existing leadership has proven that they are incapable of providing the level of service the people of the Bahamas want in a cost effective manner. It is time to replace the leadership at BEC.

What do the members of the board bring to the table? What is their role? What are they supposed to do? How will their performance be measured? I expect some results from Keith Major. Al Jarrett is a veteran and probably does not focus on the customer service end of things. Keith Major however is a customer service and performance expert. We need Mr. Major to show us what he is good for and why he was appointed to the board.

We also expect the Honourable Bradley Roberts to make our lives better. Bradley is a businessman and should be able to relate to having to pay staff for the day and get no production. This is what happens when BEC turns the power off. The empployees sit around and do nothing and have to be paid. The small business owner does not know whether to send the employees home because he does not know when the power will be turned back on. So he loses.

The homeowner suffers through the heat, unable to use the costly appliances they bought, unable to watch the world series in the comfort of their homes, and their misery index rises. The result is that we all become less civil to each other without realizing why.

All of BEC's employees need to be sensitized to the impact of power outages and poison electricity. Yes there is no power and then there is the quality of power to worry about. We need BEC to provide power within the specified voltage and frequency ranges consistently.

The hunt should begin for a new team to deliver hope to power consumers in the Bahamas. We have suffered long enough.

In the case of Bec management needs to be retird and they need to sell BEC to the jappenise

Again, we in Coral Harbour were left in the dark Monday night, March 3rd for a few hours. I was told this would stop.

Unfortunately, it always happens during dinner time. We only have an electric stove. That sucks, as my wife is a diabetic and needs to be fed on schedule.

Next time she goes into a coma, I'll send the bill to BEC. (Just Kidding)

Originally posted by classicromeo22
In the case of Bec management needs to be retird and they need to sell BEC to the jappenise

no, lets sell it to the taiwanese, they have some cool tech stuff out now, lime mini pics (www.cappucinnopc.com), so im sure they can hook us up with electriciity for more than 2 hours a day! :-)

BEC makes me sick and is lousy!!! :hot:

How can a light bill increase 50% by the month. That is what's happening to me. I am scared for when the summer comes.

What I pay, trust me business places are paying and I only have the regular appliances in my home.

Also, How can I have four people in my house with the same appliances as someone who has eight persons in their house and my bill is higher than the family with eight. BEC is a mess and all the workers can tell you is BEC gone up. PLEASE SPARE ME. Soon everything will go up and overide our salaries then what, and isn't it strange that it so hard to get a raise when you deserve it!!

They need to privatize soon and speaking of crime, if the Bahamas keeps going the way it's going, CRIME will increase. The government talk about no jobs, well they are making it worst when business places are allowed to raise prices more than half the profit, actually, three times what they bought it for. It is a shame when u go away, the same alfit u see over there, increases by four times the price here. Do we look like fools and idiots. I don't think so.

BEC STINKS and it is obvious when the bill increases by half, the meter was not read and you are being judged by the size of the house. This is people's hard earnings we are overpaying when being robbed. I may not comit a crime when I am robbed but imagine the other person who will, because they refuse to let their kids starve. Like the saying "Do anything but don't touch ma children" The government will suffer, or it will fall on their families for allowing this. It is the little things that hurt, for example, like food store items increasing every week and the price controllers are not doing their jobs. The little money being robbed from us can add up, if not stolen, and probably there would be no reason for consideration of criminal actions.

Hey South ANdros,

You think you have problems with BEC rates, you have problems paying your bills. I went to pay my bill the other day and this elderly lady was on the line. She gave the teller her monies and some how when she checked her receipt the payment was short couple hundred dollars. The poor old lady had almost had a heart attack when the cashier said she did not get the amount the elderly lady said. I was convinved she paid the amount. So you MUST check your receipts when paying cash at BEC also one MUST check their Kilo watt reading on their bills and each month and look at their own meter themselves.

The new meters are easy to read. Ever since they were estimating my bill I never paid less than $400.00/month. I have 4 in my family and no water pump. I remember I use to pay less than $400 a quarter.

Can some one say if we going back to quarterly billing or is that another "empty" promise:hot: :raw: :raw:

Well with the old lady incident, I believe she was right when she said they posted half the amount less than what she gave them. I have a friend who that happened too recently and if she didn't carry on bad (really bad) the way she did, she would have left BEC with extra money. She carried on so bad til they had no other choice but to close down the cashier she dealt with immediately and check the funds and compare it with the system. When they completed this, it was discovered that BEC had extra money they couldn't give an account for.

LADIES AND GENTS, please check your receipts before leaving the counter and if you have to carry on bad so they can check then do it.

We can't afford BEC to take an extra penny once we can help it. I say we all need to figure out a way to prove BEC wrong when they overcharge. Any suggestions?

I know it may be time consuming and require patience but if we don't, some of us will be eating peanut butter and bread for every meal for a very long time.

BEC IS BECOMING A MORTGAGE FOR SOME OF US

TODAY B.E.C. DID IT AGAIN!!

Today at about 2:30 p.m. the lights in our Store started to dim, dim dim dim and out....and electricity was off. beeping UPS reminded me of 9/11

We are located on BAY STREET part of our retail business is SERVICE oriented through INTERNET. The majority of our customers are TOURISTS arriving in cruise ships and hotel guests.

Our business establishment was totally empty in a few minutes and in total darkness. We lost a good amount of sales today. BUT more than lost sales, we feel frustrated to be at the mercy of the public utilities corporations' ineficiencies, slackness, mediocrety at top dollar prices! How can we deliver a good destination product to our visitors like this!

Today it was BEC, other times is BATELCO....Now we have to pay our own garbage collection on Bay Street, Government stopped doing that.

How is a small business to make it. How is a business to provide jobs, pay salaries, overhead and hope to stay in business, forget profits!

BEC has never been run efficiently. As long as I can remember BEC is unable to supply demand. WHY? The island of New Providence is very small, population about 150,000 the only thing that increases with utilities like BEC is never quality only prices.

After electricity came back an hour and minutes later (because is Bay Street) we lost a computer Mother Board and time restoring our computers equipment etc. etc.

What about all the appliances and equipments that have been lost in businesses and households frequently that translate to THOUSANDS of dollars LOST to consumers WITHOUT COMPENSATION

We should demand that BEC make it a practice to give COMSUMPTION REFUND OR CREDIT TO US CONSUMERS at least on a quarterly basis. COME ON! As long as is a government corporation WE the citizens own it, isn't it?

We need also to REMEMBER all of OUR deposits they are holding. On my SMALL house alone they made me deposit $1,200 !

DO THE MATHEMATICS....What are they doing with the funds!

Originally posted by Priscilla H Carey

DO THE MATHEMATICS....What are they doing with the funds!

2 words: Kalik, Arawak Cay! (sorry that was 3 words! :-)

We must be doing something wrong! Why is it that the lights remained on in Bagdad as it was being bombed but ours go out at the first clap of thunder?

There is only one solution to the power outage problems. Buy a generator! BEC is so bogged down with unions and unqualified managers that I can't see any hope of relief anytime soon. It seems that the talent is not equal to the task - regrettably, a statement that can apply to many of the government offices.

Originally posted by CG
We must be doing something wrong! Why is it that the lights remained on in Bagdad as it was being bombed but ours go out at the first clap of thunder?

There is only one solution to the power outage problems. Buy a generator! BEC is so bogged down with unions and unqualified managers that I can't see any hope of relief anytime soon. It seems that the talent is not equal to the task - regrettably, a statement that can apply to many of the government offices.


thats true, a little thunder and the power is gone! I still dont understand this.

You and me both!