High Court to hear challenge of FTC’s refusal to demand Light & Power financial records

The High Court is set to decide whether the Fair Trading Commission must order the Barbados Light and Power Company to release financial documents, after a protracted dispute over electricity rates reignited with fresh legal action from public interest intervenors.

 

Earlier this month, the court quashed a scheduled hearing after discovering that no formal application for the case had been properly filed.

 

But last week, the intervenor team, led by Ricky Went, refiled a bundle of documents that included their notice of application, a certificate of urgency and the draft of an order they want the court to approve.

 

The court has scheduled next week Wednesday to hear the application, which was lodged by the intervenors’ lead attorney, senior counsel Hal Gollop.

 

The case before the court concerns whether the FTC can compel Light & Power to provide information after the commission’s February 2023 rate review decision, which the intervenors have argued is not yet closed. The FTC has maintained that the process had been concluded and that it lacks the statutory power to mandate the release of the documents.

 

A hearing in which the court is being asked by the intervenors to rule on the case was scheduled for last Tuesday, but the court later discovered that something was wrong with the filing process.

 

The issue came to light when senior counsel for the FTC, Alrick Scott, responded to the court’s legal assistant’s notification to the parties that the case was before the court following Gollop’s application on October 21.

 

Scott informed the court official that Light & Power had not been served with a notice of application or any filing at that time and was “unaware” of any application filed by Gollop on behalf of his client.
“We have been served with written submissions, but no application,” Scott wrote.

 

Further investigation by the court officer revealed that, in fact, no formal application had been made for the court to hear a case.

 

The court assistant said: “On further review of the Curia [the court’s electronic filing] system, I recognise there is no formal application before the court, only written submissions, and therefore there is no need for the court to convene and hear the parties on what the court thought was a formal application. Please accept the court’s apologies, and therefore, the date of November 11, 2025 is now vacated.”

 

In explaining the reasons for requesting the financial information in previous public pronouncements, the intervenors have argued that before the FTC gives its final ruling on an appeal before the High Court — against the utility regulator’s February 15, 2023 rate decision — it is necessary to closely analyse the electricity company’s revenue requirement and rate base, especially since rate proceedings are not normally held within five to ten years.

 

The intervenors said: “It is therefore critical that every party in the proceedings gets the opportunity to assess the impact on ratepayers prior to a final ruling. Intervenors who represent the public interest are critical to ensure that trust and confidence remain in the regulatory process.”

 

But through its attorney Scott, the FTC has reiterated that it would not honour the request, arguing there was no statutory obligation to order the release of the reports.

 

“The FTC will not mandate the BLPC to provide the information or documents set out in your letter for the reasons given above, unless you can provide a clear statutory basis (and I have seen none) for your request,” wrote Scott in a recent letter to Gollop.

emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb