FTC to consider stay next week

The island’s utility regulator will start deliberations in earnest on Monday to determine whether it will grant the Barbados Light & Power Company (BLPC) a request to delay the implementation of its February 15 decision on a hike in basic electricity rates.
The BLPC wanted a stay of execution until a review of the ruling was completed.
The Fair Trading Commission (FTC) broke the news on Friday afternoon after the company notified the regulator that it was making no further submissions regarding its application for a review of rates.
Friday was the deadline for the company to hand in its submissions on the request for the stay.
“They said that they have provided adequate justification [for the rate hike], so they don’t intend to add anymore to what they have already presented. So we have all of the information now on which to make a determination on the stay,” Chief Executive Officer of the FTC, Dr Marsha Atherley-Ikechi told Barbados TODAY.
The power company had appealed the commission’s February 15 ruling for it to revise downward the figure it used to calculate its requested 11.9 per cent rate hike, saying the order could compromise its ability to provide a safe, adequate, efficient and reasonable service to its customers. That appeal, which took the form of a motion, not only asked the FTC to suspend the execution of the ruling, but also requested another public hearing to review it. The intervenors were given timelines by which to have their say in writing and they met the first one – the stay – two weeks ago. The BLPC was also given April 4 as the deadline to make a submission on its motion for a review of the FTC’s rate ruling, but also did not honour that timeline. “On the review, they were supposed to submit stuff by April 4. We have not seen anything in regard to that…Then the intervenors are allowed until May 4 or 5 to make any further submissions that they need to make.
“We have not seen anything in relation to the motion from the Light and Power. If they have not submitted anything, we have taken it to mean there are no further submissions from them on that either,” Dr Atherley-Ikechi pointed out. She said that it was now for the intervenors to make any further submissions they need to make on the company’s motion for a review. “Normally the review would be based on what the utility would have submitted. The utility has not submitted anything further. If they want to expand on anything the utility has already submitted, this is the time to do so,” the CEO advised. She said she was not in a position to say when the hearing on the motion would start.
On February 15, the FTC gave the BLPC three weeks to go back to the drawing board and make adjustments to the rate of return it used as a basis for seeking a hike in basic electricity rates. The commission had denied the BLPC’s rate of return on a rate base of 8.79 per cent, instead approving a rate of return of 7.47 per cent. The utility regulator also denied the financial capital structure with equity of 65 per cent and debt 35 per cent that the BLPC used to determine its rate of return but granted a financial capital structure of equity at 55 per cent and debt 45 per cent. The power company was ordered to submit a compliance report containing all the required recalculations and re-adjustments that the FTC would use to determine the final base rate to be paid by Barbadians. But in a 62-page motion dated March 7, 2023, BLPC said if it is required to implement the FTC decision, “it will suffer irreparable financial harm which cannot be remedied by any subsequent award of damages, even if the same were available”. In the meantime, consumers will have to await the outcome of this process to hear how much more they will pay for electricity.
(EJ)