FTC to continue with rate hearing until court says otherwise

The Fair Trading Commission (FTC) on Thursday ruled that the hearing into a proposed basic rate hike for the Barbados Light and Power Company (BLPC) will not be suspended unless it gets an order from the High Court to do so.

The judgment was handed down by FTC chairman Dr Donley Carrington after Acting Public Counsel Sharon Dean returned on day two of the hearing and again moved a motion – which was first denied on Wednesday – that the proceedings be adjourned for two months to give her time to properly represent some 200 000 consumers in Barbados, since she had only taken up the post on Monday.

The motion was dismissed again.

However, Dr Carrington granted Dean an extension of time to file certain documents related to her case, and also permitted intervenor and utility attorney Tricia Watson the required time to present her motion after she persistently pressed the FTC to do so.

The Commission also dealt with a number of BLPC motions on Thursday, including requests for two of its expert witnesses to testify virtually and be cross-examined, and to extend the hearing dates for the application by one day, to October 7.

“The Commission will allow other witnesses to give evidence and be cross-examined virtually, by notice by the intervenors,” Dr Carrington ruled.

He also granted the company’s request to allow two of its witnesses to testify jointly and to extend the time to file evidence in the matter. There was no objection to that application.

BLPC was also permitted to have its witnesses use a laptop computer for the purposes of expeditiously searching for and locating documents that would be displayed on a screen for all to see. This was also extended to all other witnesses.

However, the FTC turned down the power company’s motion to remove from the list of issues, a clawback accountability clause.

BLPC complained that the clause is unclear with respect to its relevance, design and implementation.

However, Dr Carrington disagreed and denied the utility company’s request.

The hearing resumes on Friday at 9 a.m. at the Accra Beach Hotel and Spa. (EJ)