On November 3, 2026, the National Trade Union Congress of Belize (NTUCB) has formally submitted a petition to the country’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) urging regulators to reject a controversial proposal from Belize Electricity Limited (BEL) that would double the existing Cost of Power Adjustment (COPA) cap on residential and commercial electricity bills, lifting the current 5% threshold to 10%.
The utility’s request for a higher COPA ceiling stems from growing outstanding financial commitments to Mexico’s state-owned power provider Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), a liability that the Government of Belize already moved to offset with a BZ$73 million emergency injection of public funds earlier in 2026. The NTUCB’s advocacy push frames the proposed fee hike as an unsustainable additional burden for working families across the country, who are already navigating a prolonged period of stagnant wage growth that has failed to keep pace with surging costs for core household essentials including food, fuel, and housing.
Recent official data from the Statistical Institute of Belize underscores the fragility of local household finances: September 2026 inflation clocked in at 4.7%, while national consumer confidence dipped to its lowest recorded point in 29 months, signaling widespread public anxiety about economic stability. Union representatives emphasized that passing unmitigated power costs onto end users is fundamentally unjust at a time when many communities are already reporting frequent service interruptions and inconsistent power reliability, meaning consumers are being asked to pay more for a degraded level of service.
The labor advocacy body further argues that the unvetted doubling of the COPA cap would dismantle longstanding consumer protection frameworks established under the PUC’s Regulatory Sandbox policy, and that BEL has failed to produce sufficient, transparent documentation to justify the need for such a dramatic fee increase to regulators. The NTUCB is calling for alternative, equitable cost-sharing arrangements that prioritize shielding vulnerable households from unmanageable utility price shocks before any adjustment to the COPA policy is considered.
Union Rejects Doubling of BEL’s COPA Charge
