NASSAU, The Bahamas – Bahamian businesses are reaching out “in droves” to the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC) with mounting concerns over skyrocketing electricity bills, according to the organisation’s chief executive, Dr. Leo Rolle.
“It’s always a concern, and yes, our members are reaching out in droves, because most of them are sending their light bills,” Dr. Rolle said.
To help mitigate the strain, the Chamber has been working with its members on energy solutions. “We would have secured energy audits for some of our businesses who may be using or not conserving energy, and so those energy audits are going to be free of charge. We’ve already provided a list of those businesses to get those audits,” Rolle said.
He added that the Chamber is tracking initiatives such as the energy rebate program, and looking to see if and how businesses benefit. “We’re also being proactive with our members, encouraging them to use energy conservation tips,” said Dr Rolle.
The Chamber chief warned that the surge in energy costs, combined with higher shipping, procurement, and operating expenses, is forcing entrepreneurs to raise prices just to stay afloat. “You want to understand that when there’s a pinch to the bottom line of a business, whether it’s an increase in salaries and wages, an increase in expenses—we know that light bills have gone tremendously up over the past few months—and so they increase in the cost of energy. They have to pay staff, they have to pay water bill, they have to pay rent where they are,” he said.
Rolle noted that procurement and logistics costs have also climbed steeply. “Procurement in most instances has gone up, not only from tariffs, but also from the terms of shipping and logistics. How costly is it to get these products into the country? If an entrepreneur is making that same $10, but they have more things being detracted from that $10, the only way they can stay alive is to offset that cost by an increased nominal sum.”
He noted that a recent Chamber case study showed that one member faced rising costs in each of four separate procurement cycles within a year, as both product and shipping prices climbed. “If I’m making the same money from the same goods that I’m selling, I haven’t increased the cost of that good, then I will eventually go out of business if I’m an entrepreneur, unless I can do things to help,” Dr Rolle explained.
