FTC to issue enforcement action on BL&P soon

by Marlon Madden

The Fair Trading Commission (FTC) is expected to report “very shortly” on what enforcement action it will take against the Barbados Light & Power Company Ltd. (BL&P) for the island-wide outages experienced in November 2019.

Today’s BUSINESS understands that eligible customers of the electric utility company who were affected by the power outages have been compensated, following a decision that was handed down by the utility regulator in December last year.

It was estimated that more than 600 BL&P customers were in line for compensation for the losses from the blackouts.

However, the BL&P was not keen on confirming how many people submitted a claim or how many of them received compensation, but would only tell Today’s BUSINESS “the Light & Power has received a number of claims for the event and where there were breaches
of the GES2 standard, eligible customers were compensated”.

The GES2 or Guaranteed Standards of Service, fault repair – distribution system, requires the utility to restore service within eight hours after a fault on the system has impacted multiple customers.

Restoration of service after the outages took over 13 hours to complete in both instances. It was also reported that some customers experienced damage to equipment during the outage.

It is understood that eligible customers received compensation in the form of deductions on their bills earlier this year.

This, after the FTC ruled in December 2020 that the BL&P failed in its duty to provide adequate service on November 18 and 19 of the prior year, when the country experienced the outages.

At the same time, the FTC had noted that based on its investigations it would pursue enforcement action against the utility company.

“A determination will be made as to what form that enforcement action will take and the BL&P will be given an opportunity to be heard.

The public will be informed of the final determination,” the FTC said then in its summary Final Findings Report.Among the options available to the FTC for enforcement action is the imposition of a financial penalty in accordance with section 38 (c)(i) of the Utilities Regulation Act, CAP 282.

In a follow up by this newspaper, the FTC said it was still in the process of carrying out its review, adding that once a decision was made all stakeholders would be notified.

The regulator told Today’s BUSINESS that the BL&P will be given every opportunity to be heard, promising that the highest level of transparency and principle was being employed.

“Any enforcement action to be pursued is subject to a process which includes giving the utility involved an opportunity to be heard on the matter.

“The Commission remains committed to upholding the principles of natural justice and transparency in its pursuit of enforcement action.

We expect to be in a position to report to all our stakeholders very shortly to advise on any further action being taken by the Commission,” it said.

marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb