Will the lights go out when Belize Electricity Limited's bank account dries up? That has been the burning question in many homes since the country's sole electricity provider declared that it could not meet financial debts with its suppliers on schedule. Prime Minister Dean Barrow announced at his quarterly press conference on Wednesday that B.E.L. should have never been privatized in the first place, but he would await the return of BEL's C.E.O. Lynn Young to see if its parent company, Fortis, would inject the millions of dollars in cash that it needs to remain operational. The company has managed to stay afloat with four million dollars drawn from government coffers. After the sit-down with Young today, the PM said that there was clearly still no way out of BEL's financial dilemma. The company remains in the position that it can't pay its bills and it cannot pay for the power supply that the country cannot do without. So Barrow told Young that the government is ready to take over control of BEL by buying out Fortis' shares.
Via Phone: Dean Barrow
Dean Barrow
"At the end of the meeting, it was agreed that Mister Young would convey to Fortis in Canada [that] Government offer to buy out Fortis' majority shareholding in B.E.L. That's really where we are. In the meantime, Mister Young has promised to do this today and to try to get back to us with an answer as quickly as possible. In the meantime, to stave off any possibility of interruption in the power supply, government will find another four million dollars as prepayment it will mean we would have been paid up in our monthly bills up to September of this year. That Mister Young tells us will buy us about twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three days grace. And in that period, we are hoping we can come to some arrangement with Fortis assuming that Fortis is interested in selling the company back to Belize."
Jose Sanchez
"Assuming Fortis would sell back, the devil is in the details. The PUC is saying that Fortis through B.E.L. owes the consumers $50 million in rebates. That and other outstanding loans would also be discounted from whatever price they come up with?"
Via Phone: Dean Barrow
"Well right, this will be a matter of negotiation but we will have to make that point. In terms of the price that Fortis would be asking, you have to input all those factors before you can arrive at a fair price."
Jose Sanchez
"Is it possible then that; can the government continue paying these four million dollar advances?'
Via Phone: Dean Barrow
"No we can't and that's just it. We are then saying that the twenty-one to twenty-eight days window that is now available as a consequence of the four million dollar payment that government will make by next week is the last of it. So we must have a solution before that window closes. The whole objective of the government is to avoid blackouts period. So whatever will be needed to be done will have to be done before we reach the point where B.E.L. stops paying and the blackouts begin."
Jose Sanchez
"Is there an estimate that the government believes B.E.L. is worth through its assets at this point?"
Via Phone: Dean Barrow
"No, we first have to find out whether Fortis is even prepared to talk. We even had a preliminary look at the financial, but it is far more than that. If Fortis says it is willing to sell, then we will try to get a proper, professional evaluation taking everything into account and that is the offer we would make or perhaps Fortis might want to tell us initially what it is they want to sell for. But we will still do our due diligence and we would have to perhaps make a counter offer."
Channel 5
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