There has been no progress towards making homeowners pay penalties when their trees endanger overhead power lines, the electricity utility has complained.

And in a quarterly letter to shareholders, president and CEO of the Bermuda Electric Light Company Ltd., Mr. Garry Madeiros, sought to set the record straight against criticisms of his company.

He wrote: "Every time we experience a hurricane which results in outages, the issue of undergrounding Bermuda's electricity system becomes a priority topic.

After Hurricane Felix there were also a number of questions about what Belco done to improve the system since Hurricane Emily in 1987, and suggestions that the company had not followed through on the recommendations of the Emergency Measures Organisation (EMO).

"In fact, with the exception of one recommendation that names Belco and others, all recommendations specific to Belco have been acted upon.

"Since Hurricane Emily, we have rehabilitated all of our main line overhead system. During Hurricane Felix, our main lines weathered the storm well. This was evident by the restoration of 20,000 customers when the main lines were returned within the first 24 hours following the storm.'' Belco now estimates it would cost some $324 million to put all power cables underground. The estimate comes from the roughly $235 million it was estimated to get the job done in 1988, plus the factoring in of four percent per annum inflation.

"Belco cannot afford to fund an extensive Island wide undergrounding programme. To put things in perspective, after 87 years of operation Belco's net assets are $133 million, that is, just over a third of what would be needed to fund an Island wide programme.'' Mr. Madeiros also referred to the post-Emily recommendations and said: "The recommendations that have not progressed relate to legislation imposing liability on landowners whose trees endanger overhead lines, and the establishment of an on-going joint-committee to deal with all the issues relating to undergrounding.

"The EMO recommended a committee be formed with Government, Works & Engineering, Belco and Telco to determine a plan for undergrounding main distribution lines.

"This committee was to have devised a strategy based on priority, considered legislation required for easements and way leaves for the placement of undergrounding equipment, and determined how a major undergrounding initiative would be funded over a period of time. The committee met only a few times, and there was no follow up.'' Mr. Madeiros also referred to claims the company made so much profit it should put all lines underground: "Over the past seven years, since Hurricane Emily, Belco has invested over $111 million in property, plant and equipment, that is approximately $16 million a year.

"Over the same period, our net earnings have averaged $11 million. We already earmark $1.5 (million) to $2 million a year to undergrounding projects. It is important to note, there is very little, if any, financial return on the funds we allocate to undergrounding projects.

"Additionally, these projects frequently generate complaints about traffic disruptions. There are safety issues, and we often have problems locating undergrounding equipment on private property. Everyone wants an underground system, but most people do not want to have our transformers or switch gear vaults on their property.'' Mr. Madeiros speculated that while the overhead system "would not stand up well to a category four hurricane'' neither would many of the Island's other facilities. If undergrounding is what the community wanted, he said, there needed to be a collective programme.