BELCO Responds To Concerns Over Outages
“Safety and reliability of electricity service are our highest priority,” BELCO President Andrew Parsons said today.
“It is preposterous and irresponsible for anyone to suggest that BELCO would deliberately cause outages to make a point to the Energy Commission, customers or the public at large.
“The recent power outages are in no way connected to, or as a result of, the Energy Commission’s recent ruling regarding BELCO’s rate application. Our mission is to provide secure, reliable, sustainable power, and that is what we come to work to do everyday.”
He added, “The outage events over the past few weeks and Sunday are clearly unacceptable, and we are working diligently to resolve them as quickly as possible. They appear to be unrelated to each other, however, we are investigating to see whether there is some connection.
“So, we are further looking at a wider range of plant and ancillary equipment, our operating regime and the system’s response. Additionally, we have representatives from our engine manufacturers arriving later today to work with us to effect engine repairs.”
Today [Aug 13] BELCO’s electricity generating capacity is close to demand, but the company expects that margins will improve with the return to service of one of its largest units on Tuesday.
BELCO is calling for conservation today and throughout the week, as the company investigates the cause of recent outages and repairs system faults. BELCO said they operate its maintenance schedules in accordance with manufacturer recommended programs.
So will BELCO be giving the consumer a discount on this months bill???? Its only right for the BS service they have been providing as of recent. Bermudians pay too much for power for it to be constantly on and off…… SOLAR POWER PLEASE!!!!!!! #*@^&##*(&#&*#*#
HOW BOUT all emails from belcos top shots EXPOSED
come here wit ur excuses 2 funny
were bermy wikileaks
I BET BELCO WOULDNT LIKE DAT
its more 2 it folks ask for ur credit if not take them court
Has anyone opened this month’s bill and gotten a shock??? The fuel surcharge is almost the same as my bill! This is crazy!
I agree! The cost of using electricity in Bermuda is outrageous! I’m not home all day and my bill was $1,750 last month! Ludicrous!
You must leave 20 A/C’s running all day and keep your fridge open…
Or make sure that you don’t have any orange extension cables running from your house to the neightbours
Um ya. What you be running?
I have three 800watt computers running 24/7 and three air-conditioners at night, my bill is not that high… not even half that.
WHAT CAN BDA TO GET SOME COMPETITION FOR BELCO REALLY IS BAD AND THEY ALWAYS HAVE AN EXCUSE WHY THE BILL IS HIGH SOMEONE REALLY NEEDS TO DO SOME RESEARCH
Lowering the very high import duty on the fuel might help, but then Govt. would have to borrow more $ to make up for increased short fall in Tax revenue..
Import duty on Belco fuel is $15 per barrel. It is a near enough negligible part of the total bill.
Belco’s “fuel surcharge” is a significant, and difficult to understand portion of the bill however. Per Belco’s own website, the fuel surcharge has NEVER declined from 2010. It has only increased. Meanwhile the cost of crude has declined from a peak of $120 to a low of $70 currently $93 and tankers are sitting empty because the transport rates are too low to make it worthwhile for the owners to put them into service. Very difficult to see how Belco’s fuel adjustment has doubled. Maybe there’s more to the calculation than simply “fuel” costs???
The fuel surcharge has increased 4 times this year. It went to 19-5 cent in June and 20.5 in July. Two immediate increases after having the rate request turned down. Coincidence? Declining oil costs except here
Belco doesn’t burn crude. And $15 per barrel equates to +$15 million that customers must pay every year. The new plant would save the country only half that amount on fuel. But….where would govt. get that revenue from?
I want to know if we are being charged extra watts per hour when the system “surges” when it comes back up again.
Yes ninkybm i bet you are right because the surges last for almost half a second and those dam people at belco will be rubbing their hands at the extra revenue. Seriously, if thats what you realy think i am worried for you. Stay inside away from the road….
Everyone should watch this 45 minute segment on what the German government did to force the electric companies to invest in renewable energy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nr-grdspEWQ&feature=related
Germany is now the leader in solar power and the technology to supply the entire world with renewable power is available today! The Bermudian people should march to government to demand that they put financial pressure on BELCO to start investing in Bermuda (in a renewable way)!!!
BELCO has been promising for decades to supply Bermuda with renewables! We have heard of electric vehicles being introduced and then these were no longer viable…we have been hearing about underwater current generators – no more…we have heard of open ocean wind farms – no more…they are stalling the Bermudian people, just like every other oil driven company because they are lining their shareholders’ pockets for as long as they can possibly hold on!
Bermuda government – department of energy – wake up or you will be left behind by the rest of the world and the Bermudian people are the ones that are paying for your inactions!!! Force BELCO by law to invest a percentage of their profits in renewables for Bermudians, otherwise, provide incentives to all Bermudians for individual investment in renewables and put BELCO out of business!!! If Germany can do it, Bermuda certainly can do it!
Germany does it in part with huge subsidies from their Government. The comaparison is a little silly, considering we are but a time village compared to them. It’s simplistic to think that a ‘solution’ from a larger jurisdiction like Germany is completely applicable to tiny Bermuda. The challenge with renewables is that they are intermittent, and battery technology isn’t yet affordable on the scale we need it. On a day (like today) with lots of cloud cover, the solar PV’s aren’t going to help you that much. You still need to fill in the gaps that renewable energy technology has.
NOT saying for a second that we shouldn’t and couldn’t be doing more, we can, but just saying ‘hey, they do this in Europe, we just need to do it here, it’s just the Government and BELCO being lazy/uninformed/incompetent/etc.’ isn’t really the fairest comment to make. We are our own isolated power grid, we don’t have neigbouring power providers to help us out. So, please, consider all the angles before you categoriccally make statements like yours. I’m no fan of either Government or BELCO, but I am a fan of critical thinking and balanced viewpoints.
Sorry, meant ‘tiny’ village, not ‘time’. Fingers were too slow.
Finally! Belco is taking some responsibility and admitting these outages are “clearly unacceptable”. Even bringing in help to sort out the problem. A much better response than yesterday’s malarkey.
Bermuda – see what happens when we put our collective foot down and say “enough is enough”? Belco – hoping for some positive news soon.
The only positive news I want to hear from Belco is that they are lowering the fuel surcharge. This is highway robbery.
I still stand by what I said yesterday f&*K Belco. F*&k the shareholders as well because they don’t care either…there’s nothing you can do to impress me at this point but LOWER your charges!!! I see on a previous post that one customers bill was $1750 last month and mine was $600 plus!! That’s at least $2350.00 of off JUST TWO HOUSEHOLDS!!!! You are making money “hand over fist” and than you want to come with some WEAK defense!!! Cut the BS please!!!!!I for one am sick and tired of students not showing up to school because they have no lights because their parents are unable to pay their bill……
Kids don’t show up to school because they have no lights? Seriously? More likely there’s no light on between their ears.
You might have a look at that big orange blob that moves across the sky. It should give you some idea of how late you are.
Then there’s always a watch. Remember those little things some people used to wear on their wrists? They’re pretty cheap – less than a monthly phone bill for your BB and they don’t need to be plugged in. And as a bonus they even come with an alarm. Imagine that.
Family Man…I am not sure which angle you are coming from but rest assured what I am telling you is correct……It has nothing to do with ‘no light between the ears”, watching the sun rise or not having a watch that does not have to be plugged in…My job in the school system entails that I work closely with families and when the students don’t show up for school I either call or go to their homes to see what’s up….Several times the cause is because of the electricity being “turned off” and this is not at homes where people are living beyond their means..these are homes where people have been laid off, made redundant, unable to find jobs, etc…these are homes where people are struggling trying to make ends meet…I don’t know if you have children but I’m sure you would not send your children to school unbathed, in wrinkled clothes, (which of course requires electricity by the way) or living in unsanitary conditions unable to flush the toilet or wash their hands…there have been incidences wherein the school PTA has put funds forward to assist families for both food and electricity…This may not be your reality..but it IS the reality of some….Remember nothing in life is guaranteed and one day who knows YOU Family Man might find yourself in the same situation that I am speaking of….IMAGINE THAT……..
Been without power >3 weeks after a hurricane. It sucks. But failing to send your kid to school is inexcusable. Without an education what will little Johnny be qualified to do? Dig ditches, drive a truck, wash pots, open doors? Great future ahead of him.
No power? Dip water with a bucket. Wash clothes by hand. Eat your cereal dry. And little Johnny needs to get to school early and stay as long as he can reading and doing homework not playing with his friends until dark and then saying he couldn’t see to finish his school work.
Life sucks but if you ever hope to change it you NEED an education. The lack of TV might actually do him some good.
At Family Man it’s no sense going tit for tat with you. You feel your way and I’ve stated my FACTS! Glad that YOU were able to survive YOUR ordeal without power! But what you need to realise is that not everyone is cut from the same cloth.
I could continue on with you especially about the jobs he would be subjected to if he didn’t have an education and my thoughts on that is a resounding WOW! So what if he drives a truck? He may own a fleet of them! So what if he digs trenches? He might be the very one to dig the trench, that holds the under ground cables providing electricity to your house. I’m going to stop here because as previously mentioned we can continue to go back and forth but at the end of the day the one fact that remains the same is that Belco is “screwing” the people of Bermuda…..
Enjoy the rest of your night!
@Tricks when you have everything and want for nothing, you can’t put your self in another persons position who is down and out. Remember there is a trailor load of selfish heartless fawkers in Bermuda. The best they can do is troll and point fingers at those of us that have/are living from paycheck to paycheck, hand to mouth, and still trying to find a way to help someone else!
DON’T EVEN BOTHER WASTING YOUR ENERGY ON THESE FREAKS!
NEXT!!!
Thank you Unbelievable…..
Wonder what you’re running as well to have such a high bill.
The heck does lights have to do with kids going to school?
Bucket, rope, tank full of water. Eat by candle light, cook by fire. There’s your basic essentials.
@ Well during the day I am not at home….during the night we have 2 AC’s running….I wash clothes twice a week…As far as kids not coming to school because of no electricity..it happens …..and I guess if you have never experienced it you would never know…it happens….sorry if you like Family Man don’t want to hear it..its a reality…
Well isn’t that your problem then? Don’t want to pay the bill, cut back on your consumption – it’s that simple.
You don’t need lights at home to go to school…
That’s like saying the parents can’t go to work because they have no electricity. That’s just dumbfounded – can’t go to work today, couldn’t pay my bill so they turned off my lights. Again, bills out of reach? cut back on spending elsewhere or reduce your consumption – it’s that simple.
@ Well…I am going to follow unbelivables advice and pay you no ragged a$$ mind!!………because you probably have you will never know….Hope that all continues to go well with you and yours and you don’t find yourself in the position that some of my students and their parents find themselves in…….
The problem why this months bill is extremely high, is that belco has to order and buy its oil 6 months in advance and if you can work out, 6 monts ago, the price of oil was extortionately high, in comparison to now where it has dropped considerably. And of course with everyone using AC now, the bill is going to bad! It’s an unfortunate coincidence the two factors land in the same month!
Finally, somebody who gets it.
Also factor in the fact, consumption has been down by a considerable amount. That means extra barrels of oil that go unused and revenue hasn’t been collected to pay for. So that cost rolls over to the next shipment.
Oh ok….
So in 6 months time I should see a reduction in my bill based on them purchasing oil at the lower rate of $72 dollars vs the $112 6 months ago….
NOT!!!!!
NEVA HAPPEN NO MATTER HOW LOW THEY BUY OIL FOR IT AINT NO WAY THEY ARE GOING TO LOWER THE FUL SURCHARGE!!!
NEXT….
One can buy forward contracts for oil purchases and lock in a future price. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. However, securing a predicable future price per barrel might at least bring some greater stability to consumer billings. Maybe BELCO already does this?
I’m not familiar with BELCO’s pricing model – cost plus? If they use a cost plus model for the fuel adjustment portion of their billings then I expect that there is little incentive to buy forwards as consumers will be absorbing any price increases anyway and the company’s margin is guaranteed.
I think Belco got rid of their senior managers who knew what was going on …and now they have staff that do not have a clue what the hell do do …..Where is Gary Madeiros when you need him ? any way the experts are on the way to bda.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!! I can’t believe someone actually vouched for Gary to take over!!!!!!!! R u kidding me?! Talk to anyone who worked at belco during his tenure and see what they have to say….. Won’t be much.
Does Ewart and the Cog run BELCO too????
The Cog is a shareholder!
$1750 a month for electricty. Only in Bermuda.
Banana republic esq
@ Kathy,
Germany is an excellent example of what sustained support for renewable energy can achieve, setting a world record in May where solar energy contributed toward 50% of demand – some 22,000MW of solar, compared to BELCO’s 120MW of demand
The Government has offered rebates of up to $5,000 off the cost of solar electricity generation systems, and up to $1,500 off solar water heating systems for the last few years.
The costs of solar have plummeted over the past few years, with an energy efficient home able to install solar for under $20,000 and expect a 5-8 year payback. Electricity generated by solar systems costs about 14 to 18 cents per kWh, versus 30 to 54 cents per kWh from BELCO. Anyone who tells you solar is more expensive is either lying or doesn’t know what they’re talking about!
The solar age is here.
What good is a 14 c/kWh system when the sun isn’t shining? Unless you want to DRASTICALLY change your lifestyle….let’s see, no fridge/freezer when the sun is down, when there is cloud cover….the solar or any other “renewable” age has not yet arrived.
Still looking for volunteers use energy only when the sun/wind is available….
Keep it up Belco , keep um guessing , is it on , is it off . Should I get a gas or electric stove . Keep us all on our toe’s , we don’t deserve any better eventhough we pay just about the highest rate for electricity in the world .
If you all can’t see that this is their way of proving a point and forcing Government’s hand to approve the new generator’s then you are just as dopey as they all summize you to be!!!!
Im with Future …. bring in LNG …
” And $15 per barrel equates to +$15 million that customers must pay every year.
The new plant would save the country only half that amount on fuel.
But….where would govt. get that revenue from? ”
profit sharing for govt tax , belco saves money on lng supply and we save on our power bill , and maybe get rid of propane … old fashion style ….