You can always count on the Progressive Liberal Party for two things: high promises and higher electricity bills.

Now before you all get bent out of shape allow me to put this into context.

When the PLP’s so-called “New Day” came roaring into power like a wet paper bag in a hurricane, one of their very first moves was to hand over the crucial Ministry of Works and Utilities to Alfred Sears—a man whose energy policy was apparently crafted during a blackout.

What did he do first? Cancel the fuel hedging program.

Let me repeat that: Cancel the one thing—the ONLY thing—that had successfully kept electricity rates at Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) semi-bearable under the Free National Movement (FNM). The same fuel hedging program that, while boring and technical, was literally saving Bahamian families hundreds on their bills.

And what did that bold “New Day” decision cost you?
Oh, just a casual $150 million.

Yes, you read that right. One hundred and fifty million dollars.

As reported by The Tribune on February 4th, 2024:

“The recent disclosure of approximately $150m of payment arrears of Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) represents a significant unbudgeted liability of the Government.”

Translation: You, dear taxpayer, are picking up the tab for a catastrophic failure in judgment by a minister who now wants to argue semantics in Parliament about whether or not he was briefed on it.

You weren’t briefed, Mr. Sears? You were the Minister of Works and Utilities. That’s like a surgeon saying, “I wasn’t briefed that the heart was important.”

The fallout? BPL customers were treated to fuel charge hikes peaking at a 163% increase over the previous year. That’s not a typo. That’s not satire. That’s the real-life effect of PLP economic genius.

And in response? Prime Minister Davis—like a man trying to fix a flat tire by painting the car—reshuffled his Cabinet and handed the energy portfolio to the “Energizer Bunny” herself, JoBeth Coleby-Davis.

She came in full of energy, yes. But much like a battery in a dead remote, all that energy led exactly nowhere.

In September 2024, she promised that starting July 2024, rates would begin to decline, thanks to cleaner fuels, grid modernization, and LNG deployment.
In August 2024, she doubled down: The decline was coming. Soon. Trust her.

Well, welcome to June 2025. One full year later. We’re still waiting.
Instead of bills going down, they’ve gone up. And now Prime Minister Davis is onstage again, desperately echoing her original promises like a broken record playing a song no one liked the first time.

The people are tired.

We’re tired of politicians with no plan, tired of watching ministers get shuffled like cards in a losing poker hand, tired of bearing the cost of failure and incompetence, and tired of hearing the phrase “relief is coming soon” as if it’s the punch line to some sick national joke.

What’s worse, they genuinely believe you’ve forgotten. That you won’t notice. That if they smile wide enough and toss out enough buzzwords like “modernization” and “LNG,” we’ll forget the bills we’ve already paid and the promises they’ve already broken.

But we have noticed.

Because while they play politics and pass the buck, real Bahamian families are left with bills they can’t afford, a power company in crisis, and a government that appears more committed to PR spin than actual solutions.

So I ask again:

Why did things not get better?
Because you cannot build a “New Day” on broken promises, fuzzy math, and ministers who treat competence like it’s optional.

The Bahamian people deserve better.
And the bill for this clown show is past due.

END