The public hearings on a review of electricity rates in Barbados will get going next Wednesday, September 21.
The date was confirmed by the Fair Trading Commission (FTC) in a letter dated September 9 and addressed to Managing Director of the Barbados Light and Power Company (BL&P) Roger Blackman.
The FTC informed the company that the hearings will span 12 consecutive business days, ending October 6, and are slated to take place at the Accra Beach Hotel and Spa in Rockley, Christ Church.
Last October, the BL&P filed an application for a basic rate hike which, if granted, would result in customers paying between five and 20 per cent more on their electricity bills. The island’s sole electricity provider says it urgently needs the money to execute projects that are crucial to providing reliable service to its customers.
Vice President of the Barbados Renewable Energy Association (BREA) and chairman of its Regulatory Committee Stephen Worme told Barbados TODAY his organisation was “as ready as we can be” to represent the people of Barbados at the hearings.
“Yes, I would say definitely BREA has had a long time to prepare because the process started all the way back in December last year. But we have been looking at the different issues and trying to work through them,” said the former management official at BL&P.
Worme, whose association is one of eight intervenors approved by the FTC, assured that while BREA is a voluntary entity that does not have the same level of resources as others, it will go all out to ensure justice is served.
“We are preparing and trying to do the best that we can to . . . determine whether Light and Power really needs the increase or not, or if they do need an increase, what level that should be. We will try to do our best to make sure that we share as much information and
hopefully, help guide the FTC into making the right decision,” he said.
Meantime, another intervenor Ricky Went said while he was not completely ready for the hearings at this time, he was confident he would be prepared in due course.
“We will get there. This is a very complex case for several reasons. One, in all my years I have not seen a case with 1 300 pages; there’s another document with 1 418 pages. It’s time we get this matter resolved. We have got a lot to go through,” he told Barbados TODAY on Monday evening.
He said there were several documents he would have liked to receive earlier, including revised schedules and related documents that would impact the revenue requirements of BL&P, and non-consolidated financial statements.
“It is crunch time now and we have a whole lot to go through in a short time, so we would have liked to get those earlier,” Went said.
In a statement issued late Monday, Chairman of the Coalition of Cooperatives and Concerned Citizens retired Lt Col Trevor Browne said he was looking forward to getting clarifications during the hearings about why BL&P is in its current financial situation.
He said his organisation’s analysis of the financial information provided by the BL&P in support of their application would suggest that “while the company is indeed undergoing some cash challenges, there are no clear indications that this has resulted from inadequate revenues being collected from customers”.
“Indeed, we expect the upcoming rate hearings to explain a number other existing issues such as [BL&P’s] policies on dividends and insurance, which may well explain their current dilemma, and
which could lead to completely different remedies than their proposed rate increases.
“A fundamental issue that the Cooperative Coalition is very interested in having established, are the principles that will be used to determine any new rates and, in particular, whether such new rates will be determined based on the historical performance of old fossil operations, or on the new sustainable framework being pursued,” he said.
Browne added that the current rate review process highlights the need for improved regulation of the local utility services; the importance of ordinary citizens becoming involved and understanding the process; and most critically, the need for a professional, long-term, National Strategic Plan for all major undertakings such as our energy transformation initiative.
He said the coalition will be hosting a public education session on Thursday via Zoom to update its members and outline some of the issues the organisation plans to raise at the hearings.
“The Cooperative Sector welcomes the challenge of participating in the upcoming process and we expect to bring a very strong people-focus to the process,” Browne said.
Efforts to get a comment from the BL&P proved futile up to press time.
emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb
