A senior Government minister is coming to the defence of the Barbados Light and Power Company (BLPC) which has been under scrutiny and heavy criticism in recent weeks as it made a case for a rate increase.
Stopping short of calling critics ungrateful, Minister of Energy Kerrie Symmonds chided those who passed judgement on the utility company without acknowledging its good deeds and its critical role in helping Government make Barbados 100 per cent reliant on renewable energy sources by 2030.
In fact, he told an energy forum on Wednesday that similar to giving residents an ease during the height of the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic, the power company has been pardoning the Government, in some cases.
“I feel I have a duty from this place to say on behalf of that much-beleaguered and maligned entity in Barbados, that obviously it is not an institution that is perfect. I am not here to make a case for the Light & Power in terms of its perfection, but it is indispensable to the process,” Symmonds said.
Without naming Senior Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office with responsibility for coordinating infrastructural projects, Dr William Duguid, Symmonds added: “I hear even in the House of Assembly, criticisms which I think do not resonate comfortably with my conscience and sense of decency.”
During debate on the Catastrophe Fund (Amendment) Bill in the House of Assembly earlier this month, Duguid chastised the utility company for not upgrading its electricity poles several years ago to make the island’s electricity infrastructure more resilient in times of natural disaster. He accused the company of focusing more on profits.
“A company focused on the bottom line and not understanding their social responsibility, I have a problem with,” said Duguid.
A week later, while speaking in the same place on the Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation (BERT) Plan 2022, Duguid again chided the BLPC for only “giving back” some $4 million dating back to 2013, saying it was insufficient for a company that earned hundreds of millions of dollars from Barbadians and paid its shareholders handsomely.
The utility company has also generally come under harsh criticism from residents, consumer activists and social commentators for seeking an 11.9 per cent rate hike which was the subject of a recent rate hearing before the Fair Trading Commission (FTC).
However, addressing the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) renewable energy forum and expo at the Hilton Barbados Resort on Wednesday, Symmonds, who is also a senior Government minister in the Mia Mottley-led administration, rebuked those who believed the company was not doing enough, as he pointed to the assistance offered to residents and Government in recent times.
“When we [were going] through COVID, there were people all around this country who were living in households where there was no income and the utility carried the bills without those people losing service. A nightmare situation would have occurred if the utility did not step up to the plate and do that. When the critics talk you do not hear these things,” he contended.
“There have been times in recent memory where the Government of Barbados was not able to meet some of the bill requirements in order to keep street lights running and, again, the utility has carried that burden until Government was in a position [to settle its arrears].”
Symmonds added: “There have been times when the water that we rely upon, which has to be driven by electricity, was not able to be paid for because the energy bill could not be met by the Government – this is in recent memory, and I can tell you the utility was there.
“So that, I want for us as a country to recognise that though it is not perfect, there is a need for us to understand it is an indispensable part to this process.”
(MM)
