After Belize Electricity Limited had accumulated debts in excess of $27 million ($12 million to Belize Electric Company, $5 million to BELCOGEN and $10 million to Comisíon Federal de Electricidad, its Mexican suppliers, it turned to the Government of Belize for an extension of credit to stave off disaster.
But by that time it was too late! The company, which had done no trimming of its own operational costs, was drowning in debt because of the high cost of imported electricity and the high acquisition cost of diesel fuel for locally produced energy.
BEL wanted the cash-strapped Government of Belize to pump new money into the system, but with nothing to look for in return.
The Government refused! Any sensible private entrepreneur would have done the same. It was a wise decision to refuse!
BEL is a privately owned utility company which is part of a billion dollar mega-corporation based in Canada. Fortis, the parent company, made no move to assist its ailing subsidiary, and indeed appears to have lost interest in BEL when BEL’s woes proved to be intractable.
The Government of Belize was placed between a rock and a hard place. It could go out on a limb and provide rescue financing as a stop-gap measure by sinking good money into an enterprise that was losing money faster than it could earn it, or it could look for a re-structuring that would take the company in a new direction.
GOB chose to do the latter!
To many it seemed like a reckless move. We at this newspaper see it as a bold and resourceful move because it will give the company the opportunity it needs to change direction and look for better ways to get back to solvency.
In all this the over-arching priority has to be to keep the power flowing, Belize cannot exist without a reliable source of electrical energy. Recent power outages have been taking a heavy toll. In recent weeks, for example, this newspaper has lost one important server, one heavy-duty UPS and one vital router switch. The money value is inconsequential when measured against the loss of digital information and the impossibility of replacing it.
We have no way of knowing what losses other companies have suffered, but these must be substantial! The prospect of enduring this kind of setback on a sustained basis is something the business community of Belize cannot endure. The national interest requires a solution that is both quick and effective.
When measured against the national interest, the private fortunes of BEL and FORTIS for that matter, cannot take precidence!
FORTIS will recover! Its two-percent loss of assets is not nearly as heavy as the potential collapse of Belize’s economy though loss of industrial energy all over Belize.
Reporter

---