New year decision on cards

The Fair Trading Commission (FTC) decision on the Barbados Light and Power Company (BLPC) application for a hike in electricity rates may be known next month.

Chief Executive Officer of the FTC Marsha Atherley-Ikechi said while she could not give an exact date for the ruling, it might be delivered in January 2023 as she did not expect the panel to complete deliberations by the end of this year.

“I can’t see December being a realistic time for us to be able to make an announcement, but we are working towards January. I can’t give you a definitive timeline in January, but that is what we are working towards,” she said in an interview with Barbados TODAY.

Atherley-Ikechi said while the panel of commissioners reviewing the evidence is making steady progress, there had been some delay in moving forward more speedily after the 15-day public hearing ended on October 14.

“We are not where we wanted to be but we are making progress. We are still in deliberations, and you know we had submissions after the hearing. Then we extended that period for submissions so that pushed us back a little bit. We extended that by a week or two weeks and we went into October,” the FTC chief said.

“We don’t have a whole lot of time in December and the panel is a panel that does not work [solely] for the commission. So, all of those things would impact how quickly we get this done.”

Once the public hearing had concluded in mid-October, all parties were required to send in their additional written submissions to the FTC by October 28.

On September 16 this year, the FTC granted the BLPC an interim rate increase of between $1 and $3 for domestic service customers. That rate will continue to be paid by consumers until the new basic rates are announced.

The power company has proposed that the basic rate increase it is now asking for should be no more than $6 for those customers using less than 150 kWh of electricity in a month. These customers account for 35 per cent of the domestic service tariff group and are assumed to consist mostly of low-income earners. The typical bill increase that would result from the proposed rates is estimated to range from five to 20 per cent.

During the FTC public hearings on the BLPC’s rate application, lead attorney for the company Ramon Alleyne, KC argued that the island’s sole electricity provider had demonstrated a legitimate reason for the hike and proven the quality of its stewardship.

However, intervenors contended that BLPC had failed to justify its rate increase request.

emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb