On October 28, 2026, the Government of Belize formalized a $73 million targeted financial intervention for Belize Electricity Limited (BEL), the national power utility, which has accumulated tens of millions in outstanding debts to regional power providers CFE and Hydro Belize amid cascading operational and market cost pressures.
Structured under the newly tabled BEL Investment Bill, the public funding package is not framed as a direct bailout grant but a purchase of newly issued preferential shares in the utility. Dr. Leroy Almendarez, CEO of the Ministry of Public Utilities, laid out the rigorous cost-benefit analysis that led policymakers to select this mechanism over three competing options. The first proposed path would have raised existing electricity tariffs by a minimum of 5 cents per kilowatt hour from the current baseline of 42 to 43 cents, a move officials ruled out to avoid placing undue cost burdens on households and small businesses still recovering from post-pandemic economic strains. A second option of securing commercial bank loans was deemed unworkable, as BEL’s already stretched debt-to-repayment ratios fell well below standard lending viability thresholds, locking the firm out of conventional debt markets. The third path, calling on BEL’s existing major shareholders (the Government of Belize and the national Social Security board) to inject capital via preferential share purchases, emerged as the only viable middle ground. Under the finalized terms, the government will acquire 8,138,020 preferential shares at a $9 premium per unit, on top of a $2 base value for ordinary shares, totaling the $73 million capital injection.
Officials emphasized the intervention is designed to stabilize BEL’s near-term balance sheet and clear its overdue obligations to CFE and Hydro Belize without triggering an immediate spike in residential and commercial electricity rates. However, BEL Chairman Lynn Young cautioned that the $73 million lifeline does not resolve the utility’s long-standing structural financial gaps. Even with the new capital, BEL is pursuing a Cost of Power Adjustment (COPA) regulatory review before the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) that could push average electricity rates from the current 44 cents per kilowatt hour up to a maximum of 47 cents per kilowatt hour if approved. Young outlined the extreme volatility in cross-border power costs that continues to roil BEL’s operations: diesel-fueled on-site generation now costs nearly $1 per kilowatt hour, while imported power from Mexico’s CFE grid fluctuates wildly between 10 cents and $1 per kilowatt hour depending on time of day, transmission capacity constraints, and regional Mexican energy market conditions. Just days before the announcement, CFE rates hit 30 U.S. cents per kilowatt hour, forcing BEL to rely heavily on far more expensive diesel generation to meet local demand when cross-border imports were unavailable. Young noted that even the proposed 3 cent COPA hike may not generate enough incremental revenue to cover BEL’s recurring monthly operating costs, leaving the utility facing ongoing financial headwinds.
The policy move has sparked public debate over the use of public funds to backstop a partially privately held utility, with officials defending the share purchase model as a more accountable structure than an unrestricted cash bailout, as public funds will be tied to formal equity stakes rather than written off as unrecoverable expenditure.