Prime Minister the Hon. Philip Davis delivered a national address on Monday evening centered on the energy crisis and the country’s energy companies.

Mr. Davis explained the reason for the frequent power outages experienced in New Providence and said that a crisis is an opportunity to fix what does not work. He said, “for the first time in our history, this country has a comprehensive nationwide plan to modernize how we generate, store and distribute electricity across the whole archipelago.”

The Prime Minister acknowledged that while the government works to roll out its energy reform plan, there will be setbacks, equipment failures and temporary disruptions.

Mr. Davis also addressed the management of Bahamas Power and Light during his presentation. It was recently reported that three persons at the power company had received approximately $600,000 in overtime payments with the total cost of overtime reaching up to $20 million annually.

The Prime Minister said, “it is not credible that a person works twenty-four hours straight, three days running and does safe work. It is not fair to the ratepayer who funds every dollar. It is not fair to the honest worker whose profession is tarnished by it. A new overtime policy is enforced. Planned overtime is capped. Any technical worker whose overtime exceeds 30% of base salary triggers a review by the division head and the executive management team and is to be reported to the board.”

Mr. Davis stressed that he is not here to manage the crisis but to fix it.