“I think we have a lot of pride in maintaining a reliable and consistent level of quality electricity throughout the island, so our customers can look forward to that continued trend.” Those were the words of Mr David Gumbs, Chief Executive Officer of the Anguilla Electricity Company (ANGLEC), as he sat down for an interview with The Anguillian.
Mr Gumbs has been in his new CEO post for just over three months now, but has been with ANGLEC for six years in his capacity as Chief Financial Officer. His parental and other family connections are at Blowing Point and Island Harbour. His undergraduate and graduate degrees are finance-related and he is a Certified Public Accountant. He studied at Connecticut College and the University of Hartford, also in Connecticut.
He worked in the United States for a number of years with some very large accounting, public relations and hospitality companies. After some sixteen years of experience he took up employment with ANGLEC and now, as CEO, he wants to preside over the progressive movement of the company.
“There are a number of new technologies, new initiatives and just a new way of doing things that we are now faced with at ANGLEC,” he stated in the newspaper interview. “Our customers are much more sophisticated than they used to be. They have a lot more knowledge than they used to have, and when people face concerns they go on the internet and research things for themselves. So we now have to be more sophisticated in the way we do business – and the way we communicate with our customers.
“Traditionally, we were monopoly-focused so there wasn’t this great initiative to connect with our customers. We have to change that, and we have to bring a whole shift in the way we do business – so we have to be more service-oriented now, rather than product-oriented.”
Among other matters, the interview touched on the reasons for a spate of outages which customers had been experiencing in the recent past; efforts to provide a stable supply of electricity; the cost of the service; disconnections; possible incentives to provide some form of assistance or relief to customers; the way forward with respect to further development of ANGLEC’s service; and alternative sources of energy.
So what have been some of the problems plaguing ANGLEC’s power supply and the remedies taken?
“There are a couple of things that are happening,” Mr Gumbs replied. “What we have been doing for the last few years is a scheduled programme in which our workers go around the island – if not every Wednesday, every other Wednesday – and the work they engage in usually requires a full day outage. Because we don’t do hotline work in Anguilla – that is working on live wires which carry a very high level of risk – we have to turn off the power in the section of the island where the work is being carried out. We change insulators, transformers, poles and other equipment, so it is a considerable amount of work that we try to pack into a couple days through the week, but most of it on that one Wednesday.
“By doing that work, we are enhancing the stability and reliability of the grid to reduce future outages. Right now, unfortunately, many people just see it as an inconvenience, but it leads to a better system later on so that’s a big factor. On the other hand, back in February and early March, we had an anomaly where two of our major sets were giving some trouble. One, in particular, was in the middle of an overhaul and another major set continued to give problems during that time. So we just didn’t have enough power to keep things stabilised throughout the island. As a result, we had a series of outages at that point in time. That has now been stabilised and so, in terms of reliability, we have all our major units back on line. I think we have a lot of pride in maintaining a reliable and consistent level of quality electricity throughout the island. So our customers can look forward to that continued trend.”
Mr Gumbs was asked to comment on a number of disconnections which have been a source of much difficulty and public concern. He could not tell offhand how many persons were disconnected, but the talk in the community was that there were several hundred. “We know we have a number of accounts that are disconnected. However, not all of them are people-related. Many are apartments, villas and different properties that are not in operation,” he recalled. ‘’Many people requested disconnections given the economic times, and so forth, so it is really hard to say how many people are individually affected by not having electricity – but we know that the problem exists.”
Mr Gumbs was told that a number of persons could not afford to pay their bills and he was asked whether there was anything that ANGLEC could do about that situation. “We know that some people are challenged. Traditionally, we did not do payment plans and other things like that, but we do a lot of that now,” he explained. “Where people run into a hard time today, but can make up tomorrow, we allow them to defer a payment. So if they can’t pay today and they can pay next week, we have that flexibility built into our systems now. We have tried to create some new programmes, just because of the times, to allow people to stay connected.”
ANGLEC’S CEO continued: “Where some consideration needs to be taken – and this probably needs to be more of a partnership with the Government of Anguilla and so forth. They recently did an initiative with water where they basically subsidised a number of bills for customers so that they could be reconnected. I think that is a programme in which Government can partner with us to do something like that. We do not have much in terms of subsidising the use of electricity so if somebody is not working, and there is no income for that household the only way that person can maintain electricity connection is if it is subsidised. That is, somebody paying for it on their behalf. We don’t have that programme at ANGLEC. That is something that many countries do but it is really done through some social or Government initiative.”
Replying to a question, however, Mr Gumbs reported that usually ANGLEC assists persons with electricity around Christmas. “We have a dollar reconnection programme which we have also done outside of Christmas. If somebody is disconnected, they come in and we reconnect them. Part of the reconnection agreement is that we set up a payment plan which gives them time to ease back in. The payment is not due for a month from the reconnection date and they also have six months, and, in some cases, a year, to repay what was owed. In the meantime, though, the new consumption will come on.
“We have had many customers who kept up and maintained the connection – but some customers fell back on hard times and got disconnected again. Once people can manage the bill downward, they can stay on for a considerable long period of time until they get their feet back on the ground again. So if there was a choice of no electricity or a small bill for somebody who has fallen on hard times, without any source of income, a small electricity bill is the answer. We try to work with our customers to educate them on how to get that small electricity bill.”
Mr Gumbs was asked about the possibility of ANGLEC embarking on a programme of forgiving customers of their electricity debts. “We try to be as efficient and effective as possible,” he replied. “When it comes to forgiving debt, it is so substantial that we would need to partner with somebody like the Government of Anguilla. This is not necessarily to pass on the cost to somebody else, but that is the role of Government similar to what they have done in the case of water. They own the water company so essentially they are giving back to the people. I think we can partner with Government in something like that, but for us to take it on solely, would be a challenge.”
It is important to note that since this interview, some two weeks ago, ANGLEC announced the launch of an “Energy Assistance Programme for Disconnected Anguilla Households”. The release stated in part: “In recognition of the challenging economic circumstances, many are experiencing in Anguilla, Delta Petroleum (Anguilla) Ltd (Delta) and the Anguilla Electricity Company, Ltd (ANGLEC) have partnered to launch an Energy Assistance Programme (EAP).
“This community campaign will assist Anguilla households that have been disconnected from the electricity grid due to financial hardship. An estimated forty (40) households will participate in the programme. Participants will receive a fixed electricity subsidy for up to a year.
“Delta and ANGLEC will work with the Department of Social Development to select qualified candidates. Persons meeting the programme’s eligibility criteria…are encouraged to apply prior to the October 1st application deadline.” The programme will run from October 2014 to September 2015. The electricity bills of the successful applicants will be paid up to $150 EC per month.
Meanwhile, it was also announced that another partnership was arranged whereby ANGLEC will be working initially with twelve householders to reduce their electricity cost. The partnership involves the Department of Disaster Management, Department of Environment and ANGLEC, with supporting funding from the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA).
Mr Gumbs, ANGLEC’s CEO, shares the view that electricity is costly. “I admit that electricity is expensive. We are much more expensive than the United States,” he said. “If you talk to a US resident in Anguilla, that person will tell you electricity is expensive. It is not expensive because we are a profiteering company. It is expensive throughout the region; and we are probably one of the smallest companies in the area – probably only the one in Montserrat is smaller and that is only because half of the island is gone – but we compete very well in rates.”
He observed that in a number of other islands, with larger economies, electricity was very expensive, but they had state-of-the-art equipment and a lot of money. He reasoned that although electricity rates in Anguilla were either at par or less than in many larger islands, “it does not hide the fact that it is still expensive. It is expensive there and it is expensive here.”
It was at this point of the interview that the question came up about a cheaper alternative to electricity. This will be the subject of part two of the interview next week when Mr Gumbs will share his thoughts about renewable energy.
