FTC hearing on Friday on interim rate hike

The island’s state-owned utility regulator will start tomorrow to hear a request from the Barbados Light and Power Company for an interim rate increase.

The disclosure was made today by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Fair Trading Commission Marsha Atherley-Ikechi who also revealed that  a decision will be handed down in just over a week in a separate application by the BL&P for the FTC to exclude certain information from the public during the upcoming main hearing for a hike in the basic electricity rate.

“The confidentiality hearing came off yesterday and the interim rate relief hearing is scheduled for tomorrow. We will issue a decision on the confidentiality in about a week and a half or so,” she told Barbados TODAY. The CEO also said a one-day procedural conference in preparation for the general rate review will take place on Monday.

Atherley-Ikechi also said that a date has been set for hearing arguments for and against the request by the power company for the increase in the basic electricity rate.  However, she explained that it cannot be made public at this stage.

“We are keeping that close right now, because, you know we have had some interventions, so we would not want to release that to the public and give them certain expectations and then other things come [up] that would shift [the situation],” the FTC chief executive pointed out.

In April, the FTC said it had approved eight intervenors who will be challenging the BLPC’s proposed basic rate increase. In its application filed in September 2021, the electricity company told the FTC it was critical for the viability of BLP that interim rate relief at the proposed rates be allowed by November 1, 2021, until a final decision was made on the main request.

The country’s sole power company has contended that it would be unable to fund its planned investments to meet customer needs if it does not get the interim hike. The company is seeking increases ranging from $2 to $6 more per month for domestic customers and between $4 and $10 more for general service users. If the increases are approved, the energy bill for large power customers would move from $1,287.00 per month for each service to $1,587 per month and secondary voltage customers’ rate would move from $149 to $169 per month.
(EJ)