Some customers of the Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC} were recently overcharged by 17 percent, Minister for the Environment Dr. Earl Deveaux confirmed yesterday.
Deveaux said 2,000 bills reflecting the overcharge were sent out and as a result the affected customers will receive rebates.
He explained that BEC incorrectly charged the customers a seven percent stamp tax, and also charged a 10 percent charge for customs duties that it should not have charged. The mistake came about after a two-year tax holiday the government granted the corporation came to an end at the end of the 2009/2010 fiscal year.
The government had granted the corporation the two-year suspension of customs duty of 10 percent and stamp duty of 7 percent on fuel imports. Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham said at the time the move was designed to take some of the financial pressures off the corporation, which he said was broke. With the tax holiday ended BEC passed those costs on to consumers in the new bills.
Deveaux said however that because the government has actually eliminated stamp tax on fuel imports, that seven percent cost should not have been passed on.
He also confirmed that BEC requested an extension of the tax holiday and this is under consideration by the minister of finance who is the prime minister.
In the interim, he said, the 10 percent customs duty will not be passed on to consumers.
However, instead of a stamp tax, a 10 percent excise tax is now charged on fuel imports.
