Thorne says Gov’t must not duck questions about utility law amendment

A government backbencher has challenged his colleagues to be courageous and honest and give Barbadians the answers and assurances they need about changes to the utilities legislation that the public fears may give too much power to a single individual.

Christ Church South MP Ralph Thorne SC also urged Members of Parliament not to hide from the issue that was driving the public’s concern – the high cost of electricity in Barbados, particularly as consumers await a Fair Trading Commission (FTC) decision on new electricity rates.

Speaking frankly in the House of Assembly on Tuesday during debate on the Utilities Regulation (Amendment) Bill, Thorne addressed reservations expressed by some that the change to the legislation which gives the minister discretion to make decisions in the public interest did not have sufficient checks and balances.

Under the amendment, the minister, on the recommendation of the FTC or on his own initiative, can “exempt the utility service supplied by any service provider or part of that utility service from the application of all or any of the provisions of this Act, where the Minister is satisfied that the exemption is required in the public interest”.

The condition previously was market competitiveness.

Noting that “public interest” was not as easily defined as Home Affairs Minister Wilfred Abrahams had stated in his rigorous defence of the amendment, Thorne said: “Ministerial discretion is always at risk that it may become unfettered. Discretion is perhaps a child of power, a thing we like to have but don’t like to admit. So many people love power but they like to disguise it in the clothing of compassion, and care, and all kinds of beautiful words but power is just what it is. Power is that capacity to determine how the lives of others may proceed, and contained within that power, properly exercised, is this thing we call discretion. But there are times when discretion becomes at risk of being unfettered and when it becomes unfettered it is unlawful.”

Thorne added that while Abrahams, the Christ Church East MP, had made it a point to note that the courts are available for judicial review, he wanted the Parliament to “legislate with confidence and legislate knowing you are doing the right thing”.

“I ask my colleagues in here today if all of them are satisfied that we are doing the right thing in giving ministerial discretion to one person, according to the text of the amendment, where that person is empowered to do it in the public interest,” he queried.

Speaking passionately on the issue, the attorney-at-law said it was important not to dismiss public concern, particularly as the amendment was being made at a time when electricity pricing “is potentially traumatic to many families, to many individuals in this country”.

“We know that lurking beneath this discussion is the activity of the Barbados Light and Power Company. That’s the reality in this country – that electricity generation goes to the heart of every industry, every household, every individual in this country. Don’t feel squeamish when I say that the price of electricity is high in this country, that it is at the heart of hardship. Let that matter that lurks beyond this debate come to light and let us address the public frankly and say to the public, ‘we are aware as to your pain, we know why you are hurting, we know what you feel is the centre of hardship this country – the cost of energy, the cost of electricity.

“Any utility provider which comes to the commission seeking an increase,and that increase must be paid by the public, they (the public) must have the guarantee that the rule of law will protect them and that ministerial discretion can become a little hazardous.”

“Let us accept the concern and let us try to respond in a manner that will give the public some satisfaction that we are not on the road to some form of tyranny.

“If the public now believes that our democratic traditions are being eroded by parliamentary intervention into previous acts, let us listen to the public, let us engage that disquiet, let us engage those concerns, and let us not resort to contemptuous dismissal of what the public has said.”

(BT)