Response to NESP

Dear Minister,

I am a homeowner /and business owner in Bermuda, and I’d like to bring your

attention to the following points. I have had a 6k solar system installed since 2015.

Firstly, I have to ask why the customer is paying for Belco meters. That's $600 a year, it's

ridiculous, I'd also like to know if there can be changes made to allow an alternative

energy system to allow a property to come off the Belco grid.

When travelling the Caribbean I notice that many communities and properties don't pay

for their hot water, it's done with simple solar collectors on rooftops. Hot water for a

family can be hundreds a month, so there should be clear tax incentives for that as well

as for PV.

Here are my other notes from the paper.

1. Most importantly,

“Time of use”: Our smart meters mean we can start

using time-of-use pricing and "Virtual Power Plants" today. If just 25% of

cars are electric, their batteries are a huge source of grid storage (56

MWh!), which is more than BELCO's planned 40 MWh grid battery. Let's

use what we have!

2. Fuel Prices: That "Fuel Adjustment Rate" on the bill is what hurts us.

Switching from oil to LNG just swaps one imported fuel for another, so

we're still stuck with global price swings, bound to get worse.

3. Data: The Ministry should seriously show us the numbers on why demand

is dropping before they lock in this policy.

4. No' Twice Before: Integrated Resource Planning in 2019 and 2024, both

said "pass" on LNG.

5. LNG price: The 2019 plan found LNG was only about 6% cheaper, and a

slight price hike would wipe out that tiny advantage. Plus, BELCO's own

data shows solar is way cheaper at $0.072/kWh.

6. Fossil Fuels: LNG infrastructure means guaranteed costs on our bills for

30+ years. We can't redirect that money when something better comes

along.7. Flexibility: We should spend the money on things like batteries and smart

grid tech. Those costs are dropping, and the tech can be upgraded.

8. Clean Energy Now: We can hit 59% renewables. We have cheap solar,

better battery storage (cheaper than new gas plants!), and smart meters

are already installed for time-of-use pricing.

9. A Plan: We need real timelines for things like land-use planning, a storage

roadmap, and fair tariff reform, not a U-turn back to LNG.

10. Another reason : When you factor in all the methane leaks from

production and shipping, LNG's emissions over 20 years are actually 33%

worse than coal. Given our climate risk, we should look at the 20-year

window.