Walter Roban, the Minister of Home Affairs, has revealed that a complex process is in motion to address the electricity pricing issue.

His comments were in sharp contrast to earlier statements in which he indicated that stakeholders would provide relief on rates “in the immediate future”.

Belco increased the Fuel Adjustment Rate dramatically from 16.513 cents per kilowatt-hour to 24.517 cents starting on October 1, and this led to protests by angry residents in front of the utility and promises by the government to take action.

At a public meeting on Thursday, Mr Roban was far less emphatic about his objection to the increase, stating only that discussions were taking place between the Government, Belco and the Regulatory Authority in an effort to “potentially” find a way to reduce costs.

Mr Roban was speaking at a meeting organised by the Bermuda Clean Air Coalition, a pressure group of Pembroke residents whose homes have been affected by pollution pumped out of Belco’s plant on Serpentine Road.

The minister was asked by one member of the audience if Belco had increased the FAR to cover the cost of cleaning up the pollution.

Mr Roban did not answer that question directly, but said that the Government and other parties were working to get the FAR increase scaled back.

He said: "As I reported in the media, we’re having short-term discussions — short-term and long-term — about the issues.

“So it's how we can potentially have some relief in the short term — which is going to be everybody around the table making a choice about how we’re going to take steps so that the people get more — and I say more in that you don’t have a higher bill.

"But I don’t want to pre-empt what’s going to happen around this, but that’s the intention — finding ways in the short term — but these are long-term issues. I don’t want people to not appreciate that.

“It’s a difficult challenge, but there’s a commitment ... to work together, all of us, to find a way of how we can mitigate these exposures to the Bermuda public.

“I cannot tell you exactly how that’s going to look, because it does require responsibilities across a number of different organisations, but that is the intention. So that’s as far as I can go. I can’t tell you.

“There is some information in the press from the RA about methodologies — that may be part of the solution for the future, not for the immediate, so there are a number of steps.”

Mr Roban’s remarks were in contrast to more aggressive comments made when the hike was first announced.

The minister first spoke out on the issue three weeks ago, claiming that he had ordered the RA to explain why it had approved the FAR increase.

Saying that he felt personally sickened by the hike, Mr Roban said: “This is no mere rattling of a sabre. If there are errors in law, the RA will be held accountable and the mistakes rectified. Bermuda's people, economy and environment deserve no less.”

In a later statement, he threatened to take legal action against the RA.

On Tuesday, after a meeting of stakeholders last week, Mr Roban’s ministry announced that the FAR increase would be reduced and the RA’s methodology would be updated.

The statement said: “All of the stakeholders at the table agreed to co-operate to reduce the FAR in the immediate future.

“Recognising the global events driving an upward trend in fossil fuel prices, the stakeholders have also agreed to change the process and methodology for calculating the FAR.“

The Royal Gazette has since asked Mr Roban and the RA a series of questions concerning the development, including whether the authority made errors in its methodology when calculating the FAR.

In response, a government spokesman said the question should be answered by the RA. An RA spokesman insisted that the Government was responsible for providing answers.

When the same questions were put to Mr Roban by a Royal Gazette reporter at Thursday’s meting, Mr Roban replied: "You are asking questions as a journalist, and this is a community meeting.

"Those answers can be given to you in the appropriate way. I’ve given you an answer to the principal questions that were posed.“

Mr Roban was also asked if he was in breach of the law by interfering in the independent RA’s decision-making process.

He replied: “No, because this is a consensual discussion between organisations that have their own authority and their own responsibilities. They all consented to meet with myself because they realised that these are bigger issues than just us sitting in our boxes.

"The RA has choices to make. They will be separate from any choice that the Government makes.

“The Government’s choice will be primarily caught up in the taxation piece, and that will be the Ministry of Finance. The RA will make its own decisions and its own deliberations with the utility that it regulates, so it’ll make its own decisions on how its costs apply. And everyone can see how that can work together.

“There's no crossing-over of responsibilities or me imposing anything. I can assure you — you have both the chairman of the RA and the CEO — they will tell you that I have not imposed anything on them around these matters.

“So we’ve all come together in the national interest, to see how, in our own spheres of influence, within our own legal responsibilities separate from each other — because I have said very publicly and you will know, the RA legally is a law unto itself, has a very clear legal separation from government and I can only give them certain directions on certain matters.

“There is no blurring of the lines, there is no question of separation, and if there was, the chairman and the CEO will tell you. You don’t need to hear it from me.”