A Small Island's Big Decision

Dear Minister,

I am a Bermudian, submitting this as an electricity customer rather than an industry representative. I've spent enough time in this sector to have formed some strong views about where this is heading, and I understand the economics, the technology, and the stakes well enough to feel I have something worth saying.

Our Government has a genuine opportunity to make a decision that protects our most vulnerable residents and positions Bermuda for decades of energy resilience rather than dependency. I believe you have both the vision and the courage to take it.

1. Solar is not the problem

Distributed solar generates approximately 3% of Bermuda's total electricity. Three percent. We're proud of it, but it simply cannot carry the blame it's being assigned.

The real drivers of declining grid sales are structural: a shrinking population and Bermudians who have become smarter and more energy efficient. When fewer customers use less energy but share the same fixed infrastructure costs, our bills rise. This is a demand problem, not a solar problem.

I ask the Government to consider a transparent analysis of what is actually driving demand decline before finalising any policy. Bermudians deserve the real numbers.

2. LNG is the wrong answer, financially, operationally, and for our island

Under Bermuda's regulatory framework, every dollar of approved capital earns a guaranteed return recovered from electricity bills. Pursuing LNG locks us in for up to 50 years, regardless of whether cheaper alternatives emerge and regardless of what global LNG prices do in the interim. Recent global conflicts demonstrated what this price exposure looks like and how vulnerable we are. Switching from oil to LNG does not remove this risk. It transfers it to a different commodity with identical volatility.

The operational risks are equally serious and have received almost no public attention. LNG requires specialist cryogenic infrastructure, internationally certified engineers, and dedicated emergency response capability that does not currently exist on this island. Those professionals would need to be recruited, compensated, and retained for the operational life of the infrastructure, a permanent addition to Bermuda's energy costs borne by ratepayers.

Add the reality of our unique environment: a hurricane-exposed, highly corrosive setting where centralised, technically sophisticated infrastructure carries significant maintenance risk and where specialist repair cannot be quickly or cheaply sourced. These are the practical consequences of building complex fossil fuel infrastructure on a remote island, and they deserve honest weight.

Have we established where this infrastructure would go? On our 21-square-miles there are no industrial locations that aren’t also somebody's neighbourhood.

The Bahamas has been trying to bring small-scale LNG to a comparable island setting for nearly a decade. They still haven't managed it. The structural complexity of this is not simply an engineering problem that sufficient capital can solve. A flexible, smart and renewable led approach is becoming more appealing by the day.

Two independent reviews, the 2019 RA-approved IRP and BELCO's own 2024 preferred plan, both examined LNG thoroughly and pointed away from it. The question this consultation must answer is what new evidence has emerged since 2024 to justify reversing a conclusion that independent experts reached twice?

3. This is about our people. And I want to help.

I want to speak personally for a moment, because this is where I feel most strongly.

I genuinely believe that how a community treats its most vulnerable members is the truest measure of its character. Not in moments of crisis, but in the everyday decisions, the policy choices, the infrastructure commitments that either widen the gap between those who have options and those who do not, or begin to close it.

Energy is one of those decisions. For a pensioner on a fixed income, a single parent working two jobs, or a family choosing between groceries and electricity, the cost of power is not an abstraction. It is a daily weight, and right now, that weight is only growing.

I got into the energy business because I believe clean, affordable energy should be accessible to everyone, not just those who can afford a solar system or own the roof above their heads. This is not a marketing position. It is what drives me. And it is why I find it so frustrating when the conversation about energy equity is used to protect the status quo rather than challenge it.

I am personally committed to being part of the solution. I want to help figure out the financing models that allow low and middle income homeowners to access solar with no upfront cost, repaid through the bill savings the system generates. I support community solar programmes that extend real bill relief to renters, apartment dwellers, and those who may never own a roof. I support time-of-use tariffs and energy efficiency programmes aimed specifically at the households carrying the heaviest energy burden relative to their income.

These are not complicated ideas. They exist and work in communities around the world. What they require is the political will to prioritise people and work with partners who are genuinely committed to delivery. I am raising my hand to be one of those partners.

I believe, deeply and without reservation, that a society which genuinely lifts its most vulnerable members does not just become more equitable. It becomes stronger, more connected, more resilient, and ultimately more prosperous for everyone. Energy policy is a chance to act on that belief and deliver it in a concrete and lasting way.

4. Whose interests does this decision serve?

I have genuine respect for what BELCO does and I support them succeeding as a utility. A well-run grid is essential to everything we want to achieve. But a utility's financial incentives and Bermuda's national energy interests are not automatically the same thing, and this policy moment requires the Government to be clear and firm about which it is serving.

BELCO's regulatory model rewards capital deployment. LNG requires enormous capital. The math is not complicated. What is being asked of Bermudians is to lock in to decades of fossil fuel infrastructure costs, fuel price and risk exposure, so that a regulated monopoly can deploy more capital and earn more guaranteed return.

That is not an energy transition. That is the opposite of one.

5. The opportunity belongs to every Bermudian

Let's build Bermuda's future by choosing flexibility over lock-in, resilience over dependency, and genuine equity over the false appearance of it.

Every technology needed to make Bermuda's energy system cleaner, cheaper, and more resilient already exists. What has been missing is the policy framework that makes it work for everyone.

The tools, the evidence, and the will are there. I trust and believe our Government seizes the moment.

Sincerely,

Travis Burland