A The government is concerned over the Fenestration and Glass Company's (FGC) recent announcement that it is closing its doors due to a dispute with the Grand Bahama Power Company (GBPC). The government, The Freeport News understands, and is making attempts to hear both sides of the story before addressing the matter.
Minister of State for Finance Zhivargo Laing told The Freeport News yesterday that both he and Minister of Works Neko Grant have been in communication with executives of both companies.
FGC Chief Executive Officer Steve Howes, in a letter posted on several local websites Monday, revealed that over the past three years the company has experienced many problems with the electricity supply provided by the GBPC to its factory on Queens Highway.
"Ever since we started to build our factories and then opening and running of our business on this island we have been overcharged and had our equipment destroyed over and over again to the point of having to run on our own generator to power our factories," the letter reads. It also charges that after the company began using the generator, the GBPC issued a cease and desist letter.
"They say we owe them $120,000 when in fact they owe us more than $170,000 but of course they deny that (although we have proof) and say they are not responsible for anything or the damage. They even had the nerve to charge us $30,000 as a connection charge on top of a deposit."
The reliability of the service provided was a major factor in the decision to close, Howes stated.
"Every time we have spiking and outages (almost a daily occurrence) it costs us thousands of dollars just to re-start up our lines and pay for the lost product. They charge six times the price of power in North Carolina, 5.8 cents per kwh, (where we are moving to) and three times the price it's costing us to run our own generators," the letter reads.
To stay in Grand Bahama, Howes said the company would have to fight the GBPC in court, and spend a lot of money on legal fees.
"We have already spent in excess of $20 million building the two new factories on Queens Highway, buying and setting up the equipment and training our employees. We are tired of fighting to bring business and prosperity to this Island," he wrote.
"In all my business life, with operations in the UK, USA and China we have been successful and grown our companies, but for the first time I have given up. I've never had to fight to bring jobs anywhere before."
In the letter, the CEO said the company intends to keep a small satellite window factory on the island, since it would not consume much electricity, using only saws and hand drills and only during production in the daytime.
Laing said he spoke with GBPC president Allan Kelley on the matter over the weekend.
"He indicated to me that he thought this issue would be coming up and in that discussion he explained to me that there was this dispute. Clearly there are claims by Fenestration, there are claims by the Power Company and this has all only just come to our attention," he said, adding that Fenestration had not communicated any of its concerns to the government prior to Howes' open letter to the public.
"Clearly our interest is in preserving jobs, preserving business opportunities, we want people to be able to operate in Grand Bahama, Bahamians and non-Bahamians and to preserve and create jobs... but in this circumstance we need to know what the facts are," he said.
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