The Belize Electricity Limited (BEL) last night announced the payment of $5.5 million in dividends to the Government of Belize, the Belize Social Security Board and over 1,500 other shareholders, after the company reported earnings of $18.7 million at the close of 2013 – a rebound from the $16 million in losses reported the year before.
This means that the Government of Belize, which has a 70.2% stake in BEL, gets $3.85 million; the Social Security Board, which currently holds a 26.9% stake in BEL, gets $1.48 million, and the remaining shareholders will share roughly $160,000.
On Thursday night, June 19, the company held its Annual General Meeting, announcing that dividend payments to shareholders would increase by 60%.
“In 2013, there was a significant reduction in the cost of energy purchased from Mexico, partially due to an abnormal increase in rainfall levels, resulting in a 4 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) reduction in the average cost of power during the year compared to 2012. This reduction in cost of power, along with the 16 percent increase in electricity rates and an increase in sales, were the main contributors to the extraordinary increase in the company’s earnings,” the company said in its annual report.
It added that the savings have been passed on to consumers, after the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) approved a 4.2% reduction in electricity rates to 44.6 cents per kWh, effective January 1, 2014.
The company says that it serves 65,067 customers, but 7,000 households are still disconnected from the national grid.
“In 2013, the company connected an additional 2,077 new customers to the national grid. Approximately 30 new communities were connected to the national grid under the European Union and Government of Belize funded initiative to connect urban and peri-urban communities across the country. However, it is estimated that approximately seven thousand households are still without electricity,” the company said.
It said that it plans to systematically address this issue over the next five years.
According to BEL, the country’s peak power demand stood at 84.3 megawatts (MW) in 2013.