Your light bill may be coming down early in 2012. That's the big news coming out of the Prime Minister's quarterly press conference held today at the Biltmore.

As we've reported, in early October, BEL had lifted the injunction that its previous owners, Fortis had taken out which prevented the Public Utilities Commission from conducting the long overdue rate setting exercise.

Well that rate review will commence shortly, with BEL making its submission to the PUC by the first of December.

And by early January, the PUC should have a decision - and the PM made it clear where he hopes the process is heading:

Prime Minister Dean Barrow - Prime Minister of Belize

"We hope to have new electricity rates - new tariffs agreed upon by the end of January 2012. Now clearly this exercise is an objective one, and I can't pre-suppose, and I can't interfere with the discretion and authority of the Public Utilities Commission, but you don't have to be very bright to know that I certainly would not have insisted that the process be put in train if I did not feel very confident that contrary to what Fortis was saying, this rate-setting exercise can produce a lowering of electricity rates for the Belizean People. What happens under the law, under the regulations as they now stand, is that after new rates have been fixed, there is a period that has to be gone through. There is a waiting period before the rates can take effect. Well, if at the end of the exercise the news is as good as I hope it will be, we will change the law to make the new rates effective immediately upon the decision being handed down."

Channel 7