Dear Sir,

The following is an open letter to Belco, the Regulatory Authority and home affairs minister Walter Roban.

The announcement of increased costs for electricity has sparked outrage in the community, but for members of the Bermuda Clean Air Coalition and residents of the area, there is concern that exactly what the group feared would happen has happened, as Belco works to relieve the air and water pollution issues in the area.

After reading through Fuel Adjustment Rate reports found on the Regulatory Authority website, after talking to present and former Belco staff, and after reflecting on Mr Roban’s July announcement that Belco had breached the Clean Air Act, the BCAC has more questions than answers.

The BCAC worries that the Government, the RA and Belco have failed the island in their goal to help residents. Instead, their lack of true action has helped Belco to avoid fines of up to $50,000 per day for breaking the law.

We recognise that reasons for the FAR increase are complicated — fuel pricing, wars, recoverable funds. We get it, but we have questions.

In reviewing Belco’s Q4 2023 report to the RA, it was noticed that the N3 alternator had been shut down for the months of June, July and August of 2023. The report states that Belco “continues to inspect the cause of the previously reported damage that the N3 alternator suffered”. Unfortunately, the Q3 report opening letter is heavily redacted, but in what can be seen, there is no mention of the N3 alternator. However, the report shows that the alternator was available up until May, but strangely in May, there was no fuel consumed.

Question from the BCAC:

• Why was the N3 alternator shut down for the months of June, July and August of 2023?

We made inquiries and were advised that the shutdown of the N3 alternator could reduce soot pollution and bring Belco closer to what is required in the Clean Air Act.

Questions from BCAC:

• Would shutting down the N3 alternator result in less soot output?

• Is Belco now within the parameters required under the Clean Air Act?

• Is that why the N3 alternator was shut down?

We then inquired of people familiar with the Belco plant. We asked them if the N3 alternator had ever been down for this long a period. No one could remember a time when it was, and each one said that the engine being down in the peak season of summer was definitely a huge concern.

We looked at reports going back three years and could not find evidence of the N3 or any other alternator being off for this long a period, especially during peak season. We asked, if shut off, how the plant would compensate for the N3 alternator being off and were advised that all the diesel engines would need to be running.

Questions from the BCAC:

• Does the N3 alternator being off for three months during the peak season raise grave concern for anyone?

• Were the diesel engines used more than normal because the N3 alternator was down during peak months?

The discussion about the diesel engines led us to look more closely at the plant’s consumption of diesel since July. We know that diesel runs cleaner, but it is also more expensive. According to Belco’s Q4 report, diesel cost $153.62 per barrel in May 2023, while the heavy fuel cost $130.22 per barrel.

Part of the BCAC’s complaint to Belco and the Government years ago was that Belco needed to convert to a cleaner fuel, but that the associated expense should not be passed on to the people of Bermuda since it was Belco's decision to build the ill-fated north tower [North Power Station], which is causing most of the nuisances and issues.

We looked at the numbers and what we found when comparing June, July and August of 2023 with the same months in 2022 was that Belco used 10,852.97 barrels more this year than last year. That’s an 82 per cent increase. And when we compared 2023 with 2021, we found a 918 per cent increase in consumption of diesel. When we took the cost of that increase and divided it by 27,418 households, which is stated in the 2018 Census, we got $60.56 per household. Very close to Mr Caines’s $52 per household.

What we have to keep in mind is that the increase we are all upset about is recovery money for Belco. It is making back the money that it spent in the last quarter. We still have three months to go in this year, so it has to also make sure that it ends the year whole as possible. So, after Belco makes its money from Q3, it has to try not to lose money in Q4.

Questions from the BCAC:

• Why did Belco use so much more diesel between June and August of 2023 than in the previous two years?

• Is it related to Belco trying to reduce its air and water pollution?

Our final questions are for Mr Roban and the RA. The Ministry of Home Affairs repeatedly promised to upgrade the clean-air legislation and bring it up to First World standards. That was supposed to have been completed last year.

In April 2022, Geoff Smith, Acting Director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, wrote to the BCAC explaining that the legislation was being worked on. Mr Roban himself even promised to consult the BCAC on the new legislation before sending it to Parliament, but nothing has happened and nothing has been upgraded in Parliament.

Meanwhile, Belco continues to pollute the country, and the RA and the Government are allowing it to happen. Avoidance of this modernisation allows Belco to avoid acting responsibly and the people impacted by Belco’s pollution cannot do this for another 30 years.

Questions from the BCAC (to the minister):

• Why is there still no modernised clean-air legislation in Bermuda? When will the legislation be available for consultation, and when will it go before Parliament?

• Whatever happened with Belco breaching the Clean Air Act?

• How did you hold it accountable?

• What changes did you demand it make?

Questions from the BCAC (to the RA):

• When do morality and ethics outweigh legislation?

• Why are you justifying that Belco can pass on the expense of its problems, inefficiencies and errors to the people of Bermuda?

We want to make something very clear. This is not just a Belco problem; this is a Regulatory Authority problem and a Bermuda Government problem!

Bermuda is not a Third World country. We want to be able to breathe clean air and drink clean water in all communities. We don’t want our rooftops covered in soot and our property damaged. We want the nuisances that are devaluing our homes, the nuisances that are causing illness and death to Bermudians, the nuisances that are unconstitutional according to the Clean Air Act to be fixed. And we want Belco, the Government and any other involved party to be responsible for the associated expenses — not the people of Bermuda.

We will not be “patiently waiting” for your response; we are demanding it.

We formally invite each of you to join us at the BCAC community meeting on October 26, from 6pm to 8pm at The Berkeley Institute cafetorium to be transparent about the issues and answer questions.

BERMUDA CLEAN AIR COALITION