The Bahamas’ leading public electricity utility, Bahamas Power and Light (BPL), is facing a growing industrial dispute after an internal audit exposed staggering overtime payouts to just three senior staff in one department, triggering immediate regulatory changes from the utility’s board and a fierce pushback from the country’s electrical workers union.
Internal BPL payroll records obtained exclusively by The Tribune reveal that between May 2025 and April 2026, three employees working in BPL’s Fuel and Performance Department accumulated a combined $601,295.16 in overtime pay. The two highest earners took home $265,551.83 and $217,729.70 respectively, accounting for more than 80% of the total three-person payout. When compared to their annual base salaries – listed as roughly $78,388 and $56,182 – their overtime earnings exceeded three times their regular annual pay. The third employee recorded $118,013.63 in overtime over the 12-month period.
The overtime payments were tied to routine operational tasks including fuel transfers between storage facilities, tanker operations, and fuel pumping assignments. Monthly claim sheets show multiple months where individual staff earned more than $20,000 in overtime alone. For example, the employee who earned $217,729.70 over the year recorded $25,000.11 in overtime during February 2026, $22,400.51 in January 2026, and $20,890.30 in October 2025. The top overtime earner, meanwhile, was paid more than $24,000 in overtime in three separate months, peaking at $26,273.01 in October 2025.
The records also raise significant questions about the plausibility of reported working hours. One entry from the Christmas holiday week shows one employee logged 18 hours of work on Christmas Day, followed by 24-hour shifts on December 26, 27, and 28 – totaling 90 hours of work across four consecutive days.
Following the completion of the internal probe, BPL’s board of directors moved to implement immediate reforms to the utility’s overtime policies, though full details of both the existing framework and proposed changes have not been released to the public as of press time. The dispute comes at an already difficult time for BPL, which has faced widespread public anger over repeated, widespread power outages that have disrupted daily life across the country through the summer months.
The Bahamas Electrical Workers Union (BEWU), which represents BPL frontline and administrative staff, has rejected the policy change outright, issuing a “high alert” notice to all members ordering them to work only their contracted regular hours and leave immediately after their shifts end. The union argues that BPL’s unilateral change to overtime rules directly violates Clause 30 of the existing industrial agreement between the utility and the union, and has accused BPL leadership of harassing and intimidating union officials and frontline staff.
“We will not stand for these injustices,” the union’s official notice read, emphasizing the directive for members to limit work to “NORMAL WORKING HOURS ONLY” before leaving the workplace.
BEWU President Kyle Wilson doubled down on the union’s opposition in an interview with The Tribune, arguing that BPL has no legal or contractual authority to unilaterally alter working arrangements outlined in the industrial agreement. Wilson noted that if overtime payouts were processed in line with previously negotiated terms and approved by BPL management, the total amount earned by workers is not a legitimate point of dispute. “If it’s in the industrial agreement, it must be respected,” he said.
Wilson also stressed that overtime scheduling is entirely controlled by BPL management, not individual employees. “Overtime is only at the discretion of management,” he explained, a claim backed by the reviewed payroll records, which show all monthly overtime claim sheets include official management approval entries. The union leader rejected criticism of high-earning staff, saying BPL should raise any concerns through formal collective bargaining channels rather than imposing abrupt changes. “No one’s going to bully me or this union,” he said.
Wilson also questioned why BPL did not raise overtime concerns during negotiations for a new industrial agreement, which was finalized and signed by both parties in June 2026, just months before the probe’s findings were released. “We just recently signed a new agreement in June and if they had any concerns why didn’t they come to the union and explain those concerns before signing off on an industrial agreement?” he asked.
The union leader also launched a direct criticism of BPL Executive Chairman Christina Alston, accusing her of consistent disrespect for the union and implementing policies that directly contradict the terms of the industrial agreement. Wilson confirmed he has not seen the full text of the new overtime policy, and declined to characterize the union’s directive as a formal work-to-rule industrial action. “I encouraged people to come to work and do the jobs that they are paid to do, okay?” he said. “I don’t know what you’re referring to with work to rule.” Still, the union’s written notice explicitly instructs members to depart after completing their standard shifts.
The potential impact of the union’s directive on electricity reliability remains unclear, in part due to recent sector restructuring on the island of New Providence, the country’s most populous. The newly created Bahamas Grid Company (BGC) now manages New Providence’s transmission and distribution network, while BPL retains responsibility for power generation and maintains a close working partnership with BGC. Wilson noted that despite the restructuring, BPL workers still regularly provide overtime support for BGC operations, particularly for specialized underground and overhead line work.
“A lot of overtime that our workers are working is to help Bahamas Grid,” Wilson said. “We were told these people were coming with expertise that we don’t have. Yet still they’re relying on us, the former transmission and distribution workers, to assist BGC where they’re falling down.” Wilson’s comments suggest the restriction on overtime could leave BGC without critical support for urgent operations, though the full extent of any disruption is not yet known. The union leader also placed blame for recent widespread power outages squarely on BGC, saying “BGC can’t keep the light on. They need to focus on that and leave us alone.”
Wilson also pushed back against the focus on Bahamian workers’ overtime earnings, pointing to large contracts awarded to external and foreign firms for electricity sector work. He claimed foreign contractors working on the system earn far higher hourly rates than domestic Bahamian staff, though The Tribune has not been able to independently verify those claims. Finally, Wilson addressed unpublicized allegations that he has personally benefited from large overtime payouts, saying no BPL leadership has ever raised the issue with him directly: “They never came to me,” he said.