A Royal Commission investigating the events surrounding July?s devastating fire at the Bermuda Electric Light Company (Belco) and the resulting blackout may soon be ordered by the Premier. Belco CEO and President Garry Madeiros said yesterday he met with Premier Alex Scott in December.

?At the time he did express to me that he was giving consideration to an enquiry of some sort,? Mr. Madeiros said. ?The Premier wanted to ensure that what happened did not happen again.?

In Commonwealth countries and Overseas Dependent Territories, a Royal Commission is a major UK Government inquiry into an issue. Deputy Governor Nick Carter said yesterday he was aware of talk about a Royal Commission into Belco however, said Government House was not yet involved.

The last Commission undertaken in Bermuda concerned Serious Crimes in 2000, Mr. Carter said. In 1985 there was a Royal Commission on Drugs and Alcohol. He said Governor Sir John Vereker?s role in a Royal Commission was largely bureaucratic as a Commission is created by the UK Cabinet. The Belco CEO told Premier Scott he had spent 16 months on a discussion paper on options for meeting Bermuda?s electricity needs for the next 20 years.

The paper was due to be released to some stakeholders in February, he said. ?This document itself may provide the type of information the Premier was looking for,? he said. ?Whether or not he is prepared to wait is now up to the Premier to decide.?

He said two reports had already been completed, one by EA Technologies that Belco paid for, and another by Technical Standards & Safety Authority (TSSA), which Government paid for. However, the results of the TSSA report had not been shared with Belco by December 30. ?If there is an inquiry, hopefully it will look at the future,? he said. ?Commissions take an extraordinary amount of time and cost a very large sum. It is not to be taken lightly.?

Senator Walter Roban said the ruling Progressive Labour Party supported a Royal Commission and understood Premier Scott would announce more details this week. ?Belco??s study was for the benefit of the company only,? Sen. Roban said. ?It was not done for the benefit of anyone else.?

?It is my understanding that Government has expressed an interest in having a Commission, Royal or otherwise, to investigate all aspects of what happened at Belco, its effect on the wider community and solutions of how it can be avoided in the future,? Sen. Roban said. ?The blackout and fire impacted the whole Island. It resulted in an untold loss of revenue and damaged some businesses.?

Many members of the Chamber of Commerce were affected and were ?vocal in their concerns? about the blackout.

Diane Gordon, executive vice president of the Chamber of Commerce did not respond yesterday whether the Chamber supported a Commission on Belco.

In the past, Belco had been able to deal with issues such as putting power-lines underground on its own, however, a wide-magnitude power outage that affected an entire community did not warrant internal investigation only, Sen. Roban said. He added that Government could help Belco make changes in the future, however, conceded that he did not know how much a Commission would cost.

The most recent commission, last year?s Bermuda Independence Commission cost Government $335,252.66.

Deputy Opposition Leader Michael Dunkley said he believed the facts of what happened be brought into the light of public scrutiny, a power monopoly for Bermuda was the ?only way? and a Royal Commission was going too far.

?It is PLP grandstanding,? Mr. Dunkley said. ?If Government was concerned we would long be on that road. We do not need the grandstanding.?