Bannister: BPL remains empathetic to its customers

Bannister: BPL remains empathetic to its customers
Minister of Public Works Desmond Bannister (FILE PHOTO)

Minister urges delinquent customers to arrange a payment plan to avoid disconnection
 

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) remains empathetic to its consumers in arrears and acknowledges many of them have fallen on hard times, Minister of Public Works Desmond Bannister said today.

He urged delinquent account holders to make a payment plan with the power company, advising that upon doing so “BPL will not disconnect them”.

“There is a lot of empathy in BPL,” Bannister said in Parliament.

He continued: “People are hurting, but it is important for us not to sit there and simply let BPL disconnect you. If you go in and make an arrangement, notwithstanding that you are six months behind, BPL is still prepared to assist you.”

“I want to say to everybody out there, if you are three months behind; if you are six months behind, go into BPL, make an arrangement because there is no need for you to be disconnected,” he said.

“But if you are not proactive, if you sit back and you know you’re six months behind, and you stay at home, then they have no choice.

“This is something that is very, very important to me. I don’t want to see anyone not have power Mr. Speaker and I want to urge all my colleagues, speak with your constituents and let them know.”

More than 11,000 delinquent residential consumers were up for disconnections, after allowing their arrears to exceed $500 for more than three months on April 1.

Bannister said upon disconnection these customers will be six months in arrears.

He also said the power company will look at consumers who at the beginning of July were six months behind.

He said BPL had sought to contact each of the customers in this second tier to encourage them to make a payment plan with BPL.

About Royston Jones Jr.

Royston Jones Jr. is a senior digital reporter and occasional TV news anchor at Eyewitness News. Since joining Eyewitness News as a digital reporter in 2018, he has done both digital and broadcast reporting, notably providing the electoral analysis for Eyewitness News’ inaugural election night coverage, “Decision Now 2021”.