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Sahar Vasquez reporting
In Cowpen Village, residents in these humble homes had become accustomed to living without electricity.

But through a partnership between the European Union and Government along with BEL helped change the way of life for these people by installing safe and reliable electricity.

Candalari Cal, Resident
"16 years I don't have and now I have which is good. Everything is changing. Right now my children are happy for us to have TV and light at home.

Pastor Ayala, Resident
"It has been such a benefit having electricity in the household because everything was just darkness before.We would need to wait for the daylight."

"I am very grateful for the help that they have provided for us with the light. I am happy and relaxed. I have help. We have a big change. In the past, it was not very good. We used to spend a lot on candles and gas. For me it is a happiness."

The manager of the banana farms in that area explained that before they were using a noisy generator to power the machinery. Lots of noise and lots of costly fuel and upkeep. Now they no longer have that problem.

Carlos Peraza, Manager for Banana Farms 1, 2, & 3
"A big benefit complying with all the global job that we do get every year. We don't have to be storing a lot of fuel again. We have a backup generator, but it's only a few gallons that we need to store. Before we sue to store about 2,000 gallons, so that even safer for every one working at the packing shed as well. I am very happy with the project and I think it's coming to a completion right now and we can continue placing more electrical motors in our packing sheds. That's to reduce the labor that we are actually doing right now and I think we will have a good result at the end."

Today The Ambassador of the European Union to Belize was also touring the banana farm. Through its Banana Accompanying Measures project, the European Union played an integral role in funding a change in the lives of the villagers and farmers by bringing in electricity.

Malgorzata Wasilewska, Ambassador of the European Union for Belize
"I think it is particularly pleasure and joy to me to meet people from the community as well as to visit the farms and see and understand how European tax payers' money is making a difference in people's lives. For the banana growers, this is a huge difference. Relying on generators obviously had massive impact on the environment, but also the noise for the workers. Already we heard today from the manager, there has been a reduction of 40% in the cost of fuel, but apart from that, it will over along the period of time, improve also efficiency. They will be able to have as we see here electric conveyor belts that will make the processing and the packaging more efficient."

The electricity is working out great for the residents and farmers but it's not for free and these mostly migrant farm workers may have difficulties keeping current with their bills. But B.E.L has a special plan in place to lessen the financial burden:

Vonetta Burrell, Public Relations Manager for B.E.L
"B.E.L is providing is subsidy to qualifying households. In communities like these and countrywide for residents who might not be able to readily afford that service entrance, so in addition to expanding the grid, we are providing subsidies through the provision of service entrances whether in part of in full. In some instances the customer pays a portion, some instances BEL. It just depends on the category that you fall under. If we are aiming to meet that target, we need to make sure that we can do it in the most cost effective manner as possible. To extend the national grid requires investment and that investment comes at the cost of the customers. If we do not proactively seek ways to get funding when it's available. So BEL has invested 35 million dollars into this project that will span 2014-2020."

B.E.L says that it will continue working on electrification projects; the company's goal is to get 98 percent of the country safely electrified by 2020.