Belizeans were left in the dark last night, and today the Opposition is demanding answers and financial relief. The unplanned countrywide power outage came as households were already grappling with higher electricity costs, including the first one-point-five-cent increase under the new Cost of Power Adjustment framework. At a press conference today, UDP Leader Tracy Taegar-Panton called on the government and Belize Electricity Limited to be more transparent about the country’s energy challenges and the rising burden on consumers. She also urged the government to set aside an estimated forty million dollars to provide immediate assistance to families struggling to pay their bills and keep the lights on.
Tracy Taegar-Panton
Tracy Taegar-Panton, Leader, United Democratic Party
“We suggest that we remove the GST from the full electricity charge wherever t applies. Not merely from the one point five COPA component for an initial twelve-month emergency period. Our rough calculations suggest that that would come at a cost of just under forty million Belize dollars. We know that the government has recently procured US one hundred million dollars from the people of Taiwan for general financing support. Forty million US of that amount going to be used before the end of 2026 and we don’t know how that money will be utilized. And so we ask the government to put aside forty million dollars Belize of that US amount to provide direct relief to households. Suspend penalties on genuinely disputed accounts while an independent review is underway. Payment plans cannot substate for determining whether the bill is correct of not.”
UDP Says Government Investments Failed to Lower Electricity Cost
Hundreds of millions of dollars have been poured into Belize’s energy sector, but Opposition Leader Tracy Taegar-Panton says consumers are still waiting to feel the benefits. With electricity costs continuing to squeeze families and businesses, Taegar-Panton is questioning what became of the promised relief from major acquisitions, financing agreements and renewable energy projects. Today, she called on the government to account for those investments and outlined several measures she believes could lower bills immediately and bring greater oversight to the sector.
Tracy Taegar-Panton
Tracy Taegar-Panton, Leader, United Democratic Party
“This blue PUP Briceno administration cannot celebrate three hundred thirty-two million acquisition of the hydroelectricity dams from Fortis, a US twenty-eight million smart meter, meter program, a US sixty-six [seventy-seven] million financing from the Saudi Fund for Renewable Energy, a US forty million via the MCC Grant Facility for Energy, Sustainability, a Belize seventy-three million investment in BEL, and a US one hundred million loan from the government and people of the Republic China, Taiwan for general budget support, while families and taxpayers who will have to pay back those loans cannot afford to keep their lights on and keep their businesses operating optimally. We’re not proposing that public money be used to conceal inefficiencies indefinitely. We are proposing immediate time-limited relief while this matter can be sorted out post-haste. So we say to the government of Belize and BEL, verify the bills. Publish the calculations. Release the Fortis evaluations and contracts.”
Panton also criticized the government for its consideration of purchasing electricity from Guatemala amid Mexico’s energy crisis, arguing that the move may have dangerous consequences.
Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.
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