KINGSTON, Jamaica, Observer — The Bahamas government says it is important to develop alternate forms of energy, complaining that the high cost is also impacting foreign investment into the country. These are issues that concern us and let me just state it for you. The cost of electricity is an extraordinary drain and has an extraordinary impact on Bahamian families. We all agree with that," Prime Minister Perry Christie said. "The impact on investors, for those that exist, is an extraordinary high impact in the sense that investors are telling us, he said, noting that a senior official of the Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC) had recently indicated that the operational costs for investors and commercial entities is as high as 20 per cent.