“Ah, relief at last! Families can finally afford groceries, school supplies, and other essentials without breaking the bank,” declared Prime Minister Philip Davis, aka Secret Squirrel. The money saved will be funneled back into local businesses, giving the economy a much-needed boost. Sounds great, right?

Let’s rewind a bit. When the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) took office, there was this nifty fuel hedging program in place at BPL. It was a sweet deal, letting The Bahamas buy fuel at a fixed, lower cost. But then, the New Day PLP government came in almost three years ago and, in their infinite wisdom, decided not to renew this program. Surprise, surprise—electricity costs soared! At first, they played dumb, but eventually, they had to own up to the blunder. By then, though, the damage was done.

Fast forward to today, and the same New Day PLP government is telling everyone, “Check your bills at the end of July.” Oh, joy.

Now, not to be labeled “ungrateful” for the umpteenth time today, but I’ve got a couple of burning questions. First off, what exactly is this magical plan that the New Day government and the Minister for Energy and Transport, Jobeth Colbey-Davis (aka Theodora Elphaba), have cooked up to lower our energy costs?

The devil is always in the details; maybe they are trying to save us from these “devils” by now sharing these details and maybe we should be grateful for the kind consideration of our souls.

And second, will these new rates actually be lower than what we had under the old fuel hedging program, courtesy of the former Free National Movement (FNM) administration?

The last thing we want—scratch that, the very last thing we want—is to feel like we’ve been swung by our “caring government” in some crafty con. Imagine if they let our bills skyrocket just to bring them back down to where they originally were under the hedging program, all so they could claim, “Look, another campaign promise fulfilled!” That, my friends, would be downright wicked and deceitful.

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