Bunker C and BL&P Revisited

Stephen Worme, Barbados Light & Power Co Ltd

Some have always admired the candour of Stephen Worme of Barbados Light and Power (BL&P). He was recently asked by a BU family member what was the average price they (BL&P) had paid per ton for Bunker C in the 2003 compared to 2013. This is a follow up to an earlier blog - http://wp.me/p41kz-74Z

2003 – $435 per ton.
2013 – $1,439 per ton.

Were these prices regulated by Government or have been subsidised in any way at any time? We cannot confirm at this time?

Deliverance Leadership Pragmatism: (DLP or BLP) A New Direction

Submitted by Yardbroom

Barbadians urged to vote INTEGRITY

Deliverance from Whom?

Leadership to Where?

Pragmatic in what we can reasonably afford.

All underpinned by “INTEGRITY” for without that, we are nothing.

In a matter of days Barbados’ electorate will go to the Polls and elect a Government for the next five years.  The time for crunching figures is over.  The pollsters have trotted out their numbers, the columnists showing bias have pontificated on the rightness of their selections and those in the shadows with much to gain, have invested their dollars and largesse to be distributed, no doubt expecting a large return on their investment.  The manifestos are near ready but they too rely on that word INTEGRITY for without it, they will be as useful as a loser betting tickets discarded at the Garrison Savannah.

I asked deliverance, from whom?  Deliverance from those in the shadows, whose faces are never seen but their dollars are.  They do not mount platforms and tell ribald jokes, and their parentage, domestic arrangements and physiognomy are never questioned, but like a fox at a Leghorn fowl shin-dig, they cannot be ignored.

EMERA WATCH: Pay Up Or Power Down

Photo Credit: Miles Howe

Nova Scotia Power tacks seemingly arbitrary “security deposit” charge to customers’ billsWatch your meter closely, or you might be in for a surprise by Miles Howe

Having trouble paying your power bill? Be careful: don’t fall too far behind on the wrong day, or you might just find a pricey surprise in the mail. Nova Scotia Power (NSPI), the Emera-owned monopoly power provider to almost all of Nova Scotia’s 921,000 citizens, has at its discretion the ability to add a lump sum equal to up to three months’ service, known as a “security deposit”, to its customers’ power bills.

The decision to add a “security deposit” to a ratepayer’s bill is measured on a vague series of guidelines, which no one at NSPI appears able to explain fully. What is clear, however, is that a customer with errant bill payments has a good chance of being slapped with an added charge worth up to three months of average power consumption.

Receiving these startling bills in the mail has roused some Nova Scotians to take action against NSPI, with mixed results. The following two individuals received added “security deposit” charges on their power bills, and chose to fight back. The reaction of the power provider differed greatly between the two cases.

Read full article

I Have Had It With The Barbados Light & Power Company

Extracted from the Facebook Page of Rosemary Parkinson. This blog was forwarded to Miles Howe, a Canadian journalist at the Halifax Media Group doing some good work to keep EMERA ‘honest’.

New Managing Director, Mark King

Many of you might remember the tirade I did on BARBADOS *NOT REALLY ANYMORE* LIGHT & POWER a few months ago. And how far dat little diatribe went. From Facebook to Barbados Underground to Brass Tacks et al. Remember you sent your CEO to me? Remember I posted what I would still consider to be answers that only Dale Carnegie would have had the balls to write about in his now so very famous book “How to win friends and influence (really meaning fool) people”? Well…after all dat episode our billl went back down to high but hello I understand the cost of living an’ all de ress of it and it still did not make me happy but it was manageable. NOW THIS MONTH WE BACK UP TO WHERE I BELLOWED AND I GINE BELLOW EVEN LOUDER NOW ‘CAUSE NOW I KNOW YOU RIPPING OFF CERTAIN PEOPLE WITHOUT A DOUBT!!!!

This last month’s bill is so raas high I gine have myself a heart attack together with my landlady nexx door….we done both sick already with chess cold. And her mother done spend a week almost in horspital so she was saving electricals at home. But dis’ month’s bill 20th November to 21st. December gone from the usual $600/700 a month now back up to $1200!!!!

Chief Marketing Officer Stephen Worme, Barbadians Want To Examine The Analysis On Solar Energy

Stephen Worme, Chief Marketing Officer, BL&P

As part of a pilot programme, BL&P has introduced a Renewable Energy Rider “to permit small customer-owned wind and solar photovoltaic systems to connect to the grid” to generate electricity for their own use and sell surplus back to BL&P. Provision was made for up to 200 connections but the last public report I saw suggested that less than 10 consumers had signed up.

Andrew Brathwaite

Chief Marketing Officer Stephen Worme of the Barbados Light and Power Ltd (BL&P) is quoted in the press suggesting that “international oil prices are predicted to rise and it would be unrealistic to expect the Barbados Light & Power Company not to pass on the increase to electricity users or to expect Government to subsidize it for “any extended period of time”  BU’s best research contradicts Worme’s forecast however we  concede that there is a known volatility associated with oil prices.

A couple years ago when the price of oil skyrocketed to USD140.00 plus per barrel it sparked a robust national conversation about the mitigating steps which should be taken.Two years later we are still talking with no semblance of a Renewable Energy Program to be mobilized any time soon.

Barbados Stock Exchange Approves Emera’s Offer To Light & Power Holdings Limited

Chief Marketing Manager Stephen Worme (l) General Manager Peter Williams (r) of BL&P

According to Light & Power Holdings Limited 2009 Financials, “sixty-two per cent of the shares in Light & Power Holdings Ltd (LPH) are held by approximately 2,800 Barbadian shareholders.” The recent offer by Emera Inc. (“Emera” – Toronto Stock Exchange listing: “EMA”) to make an offer to other shareholders in LPH has been approved by the Barbados Stock Exchange (BSE). LPH is the parent company of the Barbados Light & Power Company Limited (BL&P).

It is noteworthy that as at 20 December 2010 the closing price listed on the BSE is BDS12.00. The offer made by Emera Inc “to purchase all issued and outstanding common shares in Light & Power Holdings at a cash price per share of BB$25.70 will be hard to ignore by the 2800 Barbadian shareholders. Under normal circumstances it would be hard to ignore the significant capital gains to be made, the offer is made all the more attractive in a recessionary environment. It has been reported the offer (25.70BDS) by Emera Inc mirrors what it paid to Leucadia National Corporation in May 2010 to acquire its current 38% of common shareholding in LPH.

The prospect of the BL&P being managed by a Canadian 5.8 billion asset based company appears to be an attractive proposition, on the surface. No doubt the management of the company must be feel pleased that a highly successful company like Emera Inc would ‘cherrypick’ LPH to add to its portfolio. One cannot help but wonder however at the timing of the recent move by LPH to apply to the Fair Trading Commission (FTC) for a rate review.  In January the FTC responded favourably by granting a rate of return of 10% instead of the 10.48% requested by LPH.

Is This BLP Shame? Considering Truth And Transition

Submitted by George C. Brathwaite

You know my political affiliation; I have been loyal to the BLP and that is where my support lies — with the political party as a mechanism for ensuring our continued liberties as well as the social, economic, and political development of all Barbadians.

I do not need to be caught up in the euphoria of political transitioning, but I will say, that my political party is not necessarily acting in a manner that I would have thought enlightened persons who should know better would respond to whatever challenges that exist.

If Mr. Arthur has the support of the MPs, so be it. If Ms. Mottley has been found wanting for support or sheer alacrity, is there not a better way of dealing with the matter as opposed to what appears vulgar to the sensibilities of Barbadians even though it may resonate with glee in the opposing political party. Is it reasonable to suggest that notwithstanding the popularity of Mr. Arthur, the show that has now become a public debacle is debilitating for the BLP as an institution?

Opposition Leader Mia Mottley Accused Of Confusing Barbadians, Privatization Will NOT Lead To Advancement Of Political Enfranchisement

Submitted by the People’s Democratic Congress (PDC)

 

Opposition Leader Mia Mottley

The idea that there will be “A New Beginning with Mia – A Chance for Barbados” is such a ludicrous flagrant idea to the PDC that it is not even worth considering on a piece of cheap, dirty foolscap paper. Now, let us a little show, commenters and visitors to BU why this is so.

In her address to the Barbados Chamber of Commerce And Industry recently, Ms. Mia  Mottley did talk, et al, about the Government and the People having to find “new models to fuel our future development” and did talk about this DLP Government continuing “to cling to old models of development that assumes that the its only levers of action are to TAX and SPEND”.

As well,  Ms Mottley spoke about the privatization of certain government controlled assets like that Airport, Seaport, Transport Board, BNOC, so that the process of so-called economic enfranchisement can be engaged – what a dangerous wretched fallacy though.

First, however, Ms Mottley must be told in no uncertain terms that – far from being disposed of under some false notion of economic enfranchisement, where a future PDC Government is concerned, these types of  government assets/businesses are the ones that will NOT ONLY be kept and reformed for national strategic political social reasons, BUT will  ALSO be some of the ones  out of those many  THAT WILL   become or will be wholly owned by a new state  partnership entity – that will be owned by those who are presently employed by the government or that are paid by the government – and  that will have – as one of its principal purposes – the  purpose of helping the government and people of Barbados generate more income.

 

A New Beginning With Mia – A Chance For Barbados

Submitted by Henderson Bovell

Opposition Leader Mia Mottley

It perhaps would have caused some to think of Charles Dickens (1859) novel - A Tale of Two Cities, which depicts the plight of the French peasantry demoralized by the French Aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution. After all, the DLP (which does not know what it is doing or what to do) has also demoralized ordinary Barbadians as a result of its dangerous mismanagement of the Barbados economy and more direct – because of its high cost of living, burdensome taxes and its discriminatory family first and fatted calf doctrine.

On one hand you had David Thompson, acting in the interest of the DLP and with a serious fiscal crisis on the current account which was manufactured by his party – reshuffling his politically incompetent Cabinet for the 4^th time in less than 3 years and hoping on this occasion for a different result while on the other hand – you had a compassionate Leader of the Opposition – acting in the national interest – taking fresh guard and outlining her vision and advancing a new politics and a new development path for the country. ‘A Tale of Two Cities,’ you ask? – Video 1,2,3

Where Is The ‘Pathway To Progress’ the DLP Promised

Former Chairman of the NAB and BLP member

Where is the “Pathway to Progress” the DLP promised in its 2008 Manifesto and how could it be transforming our society to meet the needs of Barbadians, as it alleged it would do, in that same Manifesto?

When I heard those DLP allegations, I too felt it was: “mission impossible.” Despite the distraction now and to come – the facts remain that this DLP administration promised to reduce the cost of living but has not?

Day-after-day Barbadians are waking up to the scary news of yet another brazen day-light-robbery or even depressing news that more of our relatives, friends and neighbours have been placed on the bread-line. Didn’t the DLP say that it was good at fixing social problems? Then why can’t it fix the mess at the QEH? Does this country has a government at work or one that is on holiday?

One week we are told that a DLP Cabinet has taken a decision to build a new hospital the next week a different Minister tells us that the same Cabinet has agreed to refurbish the QEH. One week the DLP Government tells us that school children are banned from traveling on mini-buses or ZR’s – the next week the same Government say that school children can travel on Mini-buses and ZR’s. Why all this confusion and doublespeak – don’t these people know what they are doing?

Mia Mottley Leading Barbados Labour Party Into A Cul-de-sac

Hartley Henry - Principal Political Advisor to the Hon. Prime Minister

I don’t profess to be the brightest or the best at what I do, nor do I have powers of observation, discernment or discovery that are greater than any others in my field. I am merely a political adviser and strategist who has a little common sense, can read people reasonably well and who has always flown by light.

I confess to all of that even if only to give some small passing victory or even a political orgasm to those who jump at my every word on the blog sites and question the very right of a non-entity like me from the bowels of Ellerton, St. George  to be respected or earn a salary anywhere in the Caribbean but least of all in sophisticated Barbados!

I also say all of that because I am genuinely confused. Ordinary Barbadians are justifiably confused. The people who now own or are about to own houses at Marchfield, Constant, Greens, Four Hill and Coverley and in so many sites throughout Barbados are more than confused.

Oh What A Tangled Web We Weave…

Hartley Henry - Principal Political Advisor to the Hon. Prime Minister

“Jesus had no servants yet they called him Master; He had no degree but they called Him Teacher; He had no medicines yet they called Him Healer, He had no army yet was feared by Kings, He won no military battles yet He conquered the world; He committed no crime yet they crucified Him, He was buried in a tomb but lives today!”

This is from one of those emails I received this week asking me to circulate it among friends. I take the liberty now of circulating this among the entire readership of the Barbados Advocate and I ask you, as I am still doing, to reflect on it. Jesus’ life, as I understand it, is an example for us to follow and His teachings are a guide to our role here on earth.

He pushed at the barriers of perception and thought and acted outside of the box (to use an over-worn phrase) not only to get His message across but to encourage and sustain his followers. This was not a quotation of His. This is a very valid comment on the power of the man.

A man is the sum total of his parts – his physique, his socialization, his education, his family, his profession and all of the other things that make him into who he is. Jesus is unique in that regard and I am not suggesting or recommending that any of us mere mortals will reach the stature which the quotation claims for Him and with which believers agree.

The Dems Represent Change: Why Do I Keep On Fooling Myself?

Submitted by George C. Brathwaite

The politics of convenience, opportunism, and promises are built upon less than solid foundations. As the winds blow and tremendous waves encroach, the sands upon which the tower of fortune is erected bear major disaster for the victims of happenstance. Late 2007, Barbados was bombarded with all myriad claims that the government of the day was no longer in touch with the ordinary citizen; signs of corruption and mismanagement figured larger than the propensity to lower the cost of living; and among other things, the leader at the time had surpassed his ‘best buy’ date. Barbadians listened, even if with some scepticism. By January 15 2008, there was a clear endorsement for a politics of change and the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) was entrusted with the good governance of the little paradise called Barbados.

Although time waits on no man and a day in politics can be a very long time, today Barbadians are seeing first-hand that art is truly long while life is short. Has political, social, and economic life in Barbados been better since the entry of the DLP? Has things remained relatively the same with large numbers of Barbadians employed in meaningful jobs doing decent work and providing for their families despite a high cost of living that to some extent were often influence by external factors and events? Worse yet, have the changes for which Barbadians are now seeing, scenarios that depict striking resemblance to the post-Barrow years and up until at least early 1995?

The sorts of changes that were promised are deeply embedded in the psyche of Barbadians because although there was the appearance of exaggeration, the idealistic nature of the promises cut across an entire nation. Many individuals and pundits were unsure of whether to break with tradition by taking that extra-step and re-elect a political party for an additional five years on top of what was practically a period of 14 years of sustained socio-economic recovery and growth in that order, or hold to political custom and deny the precedence of a fourth political term, despite knowing that to follow tradition, meant to also put in motion a string of events that would see a captain beleaguered from the financial and economic debacle of the early 1990s lead a group inexperienced with governance and certainly a group that had the makings of implosion due to their tumultuous years in opposition. We know what the choice was; hence I must ask, why do I keep fooling myself?