A bid by a Bermuda-registered company to take over the Turks and Caicos Islands' two electricity companies could be blocked by the British Overseas Territory's Premier.

Premier Michael Misick said on Tuesday he would try to block Fortis Energy Ltd. of Bermuda's $90 million bid to buy PPC Limited and Atlantic Equipment and Power Limited, which together provide electricity to 80 percent of the British Caribbean territory's population ? nearly 7,500 customers.

In a letter to the local companies, Mr. Misick said their operating agreement prevents them from transferring the licence without government approval. He said he was seeking legal advice from the Attorney General, AFX News reported.

Mr. Misick also said it was in "extremely poor taste and utterly disrespectful" for the companies to sell all their outstanding shares without first notifying the government.

Fortist Energy Ltd. is a subsidiary of Canadian power company Fortis, whose chief executive officer Stan Marshall said the company did not believe government approval was necessary. He said the deal was final.

"Before we did that transaction we had legal opinions that said government approval is not required, so as far as we were concerned, none was required," Mr. Marshall said.

The St. John's, Newfoundland-based company obtained the two utilities from locally owned T.C. Energy Holdings Inc. in a deal that includes assumed debt. Fortis, which also owns electric utilities in Belize and the Cayman Islands, made the deal through a subsidiary.