Belize Electricity employees restore service to customers affected by Hurricane Iris. To finance these and other capital projects aimed at improving quality and reliability, Belize Electricity raised $15.6 million through a debenture offering in April 2001.  Hurricane Iris struck Belize in October, only the second major tropical storm to hit the country in more than 30 years. The Category IV storm impacted approximately 2,600 customers and caused an estimated $4.0 million in damage to the distribution system in southern Belize. Service was fully restored to customers  in approximately three weeks. Contributing  to the Company’s success in restoring electricity to customers as quickly as possible was the assistance provided by BECOL, Caribbean Utilities and the Guatemalan government-owned utility Instituto Nacional de Electricidad. Belize Electricity redesigned the damaged distribution system to lessen the impact  of similar hurricane conditions and to accommodate future electricity growth in the area.  As part of its ongoing initiatives to meet international environment standards, spill prevention systems were installed at Belize Electricity’s two main diesel generating stations in Belize City and Belmopan. A comprehensive audit of its power plants was undertaken to establish a baseline for work towards meeting ISO 14001 approximately $40,000 to the Belize Red Cross Hurricane Iris Relief Fund to support that agency’s relief efforts for hurricane victims. In addition to working to get the lights back on, employees worked hard in other ways to brighten the lives of individuals impacted by Hurricane Iris - by donating clothing, building shelters and helping to cook and serve food to the homeless. Fortis contributed compliance. Environmental cleanup was successfully completed at several decommissioned diesel generating plants and groundwater monitoring was implemented certifying that the environment around the decommissioned plants had been returned to normal. Environment management systems were implemented to FORTIS Inc. 2OO1 Annual Report 18 Belize Electricity | [ee 0 Leite? Mittal u u |