As complaints over unexpectedly high electricity bills continue to flood in from consumers across Belize, Belize Electricity Limited (BEL) has broken its silence to acknowledge occasional human errors in meter reading while strenuously rejecting allegations of systemic overcharging of customers.
In an official press interaction, BEL Executive Chairman Lynn Young emphasized that the utility maintains full confidence in its billing infrastructure, and urged consumers to trust the company’s invoicing processes. He explained that isolated instances of misread meters — such as when staff mistakenly log a 9 instead of a 6 — do occur, but the company has clear protocols in place to correct these mistakes promptly once identified.
Young pushed back against claims that the company intentionally manipulates billing to inflate charges for select customers, noting that such a scheme would be functionally nearly impossible to pull off. “If you understand how our billing system works, it is entirely run through automated computer infrastructure,” Young explained. “Pulling off a targeted manipulation of the system to overcharge specific customers would take an extraordinary level of technical skill that simply isn’t being deployed here. Nothing is impossible, of course, but this scenario is not remotely plausible.”
He also acknowledged that widespread public skepticism of large corporations is common across all industries, drawing a parallel to the scrutiny that media outlets like Channel 5, the reporter’s outlet, face for their coverage. “We are committed to being transparent and factual about any issues that arise,” Young said. “When we make a mistake, we own it immediately and fix it for consumers.”
A core point of consumer frustration has centered on BEL’s ongoing rollout of new electronic smart meters, a decades-long modernization effort that the company aims to complete by 2028. To date, more than 40,000 old analog meters have already been replaced across the country, and many consumers have reported seeing their bills jump immediately after their meter is upgraded, leading to widespread speculation that the new devices are deliberately inflated readings.
Young refuted these claims, instead arguing that the new electronic meters deliver far more accurate usage measurements than the aging analog units they replace. According to Young, electronic meters have a tolerance margin of just ±1.5%, compared to the ±3% accuracy range of older analog models. He added that when analog meters malfunction, they are far more likely to under-record energy use rather than over-record it, due to the design of their internal coil systems. When these inaccurate old meters are replaced with precise new devices, some consumers see their bills adjust to reflect their actual energy use — leading to an understandable but misplaced perception that the new meters are overcharging.
This report is a direct transcript of an evening television broadcast, with Kriol language terminology transcribed using a standardized spelling system for accuracy.