A Commission of Inquiry into the devastating fire at the Bermuda Electric Light Company (Belco) will get underway this spring, the Premier announced yesterday.

The aim of the commission will be to examine ?the full extent to which our island was impacted,? said Mr. Scott, and not whether Belco mismanaged the catastrophe which paralysed the Island last July.

The commissioners, who will be appointed by the Governor, will be experts in fields such as electricity production and environment and will come from Bermuda and beyond. Local business and community representatives will also take part.

Under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, the commissioners will have certain powers of the Supreme Court to summon witnesses, call for the production of documents, and examine people under oath.

News of the inquiry comes after at least two reports into the fire have already been completed. One, an independent technical investigation paid for by Belco, has been made public. The other, by the Technical Standards and Safety Authority, paid for by Government, has not.

Mr. Scott said yesterday that he has met with Belco CEO Garry Madeiros and it has been agreed that the company will share with Government its own report into the catastrophe, and its recommendations and strategic plan for the way forward.

However, the Commission of Inquiry is necessary, said Mr. Scott, ?in the best interest of all of Bermuda?.

?It is imperative that we consider all possible contingencies to ensure the least possible impact should a similar event occur in the future,? added the Premier.

Government is in the process of settling the terms of reference of the commission. Topics will include the cause of the fire, planning for a similar event in future, examining the impact of the fire on Bermuda?s government and industries, and consideration of alternative sources of power.

The commission will receive submissions from all sectors before it makes recommendations, said the Premier, who stressed: ?The aim is not to penalise Belco but to work with them. It?s not an adversarial relationship.? And Attorney General Larry Mussenden defended what was likely to be a lengthy and costly inquiry process.

He told the Press that the reports which have already been completed looked at the consequences of the fire as they related to Belco, rather than Bermuda as a whole.

He added that the commission would invite all Bermudians to make submissions at public hearing sessions.

News of the commission was welcomed by Philip Barnett, vice president of the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce.

Mr. Barnett said members had experienced huge losses as a result of the power outage that blacked out the City of Hamilton for three days.

He estimated that the 40-plus restaurants in the city which are chamber members lost somewhere between one and two million dollars.

Traders remain angry, he said, that Belco has not compensated them, and he expressed his hope that the Commission of Inquiry will look at how they might recover their losses.

?We also want to be assured that this will absolutely never happen again,? he added.

However, the necessity of a Commission of Inquiry was questioned by Opposition Leader Grant Gibbons.

?I think that this is premature and a more practical approach would be to first release the contents of two reports that have already been done by Government ? an occupational safety report and a fire report. This would allow us to have a clearer understanding of what happened and how it might be avoided in future. I don?t think they have made a case for a Commission of Inquiry, unless there is compelling new evidence which the government has not yet shared with the public. Why should the taxpayers pick up the cost of the commission? ? said Dr. Gibbons.

He added that Belco is already in the process of producing a paper on how Bermuda?s future energy needs can be met, and that it would ?make more sense? for Government to put together a green paper taking this into account along with other expert advice.

A spokeswoman for Belco said that CEO Garry Madeiros did not have anything to add to comments he made to about the proposed commission last week.

At that time, he said the company?s own discussion paper on sustainable development may provide the type of information that the government is looking for if it would wait for it to be completed.

Deputy Governor Nick Carter said yesterday that Governor Sir John Vereker has not yet received a formal request from the government for the Commission of Inquiry.