Opposition Senator Tricia Watson on Tuesday insisted that consumers must be given a fair deal and their rights protected as she raised concern about the direction of the island’s regulatory regime for utilities.
Speaking at the annual post-Budget discussion forum hosted by the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry and PricewaterhouseCoopers, Senator Watson, a leading consumer advocate in the Barbados Light and Power rate hearings, warned that despite ongoing conversation about investment and other developments in electricity, it is still not clear how Barbadians will benefit.
She insisted that consumers are not preoccupied with technical discussions but simply want a consistent supply of electricity that they can afford.
“As far as Barbadians are concerned, whatever happens, they have to be able to get electricity and they have to be able to pay for it. And we are facing an immediate future where that ability to pay is diminishing every time a decision is issued by the Fair Trading Commission. These are the facts, no manner of political speech is going to change that fact.
“And when people want to know why my interventions are persistent, that is the reason why,” she said.
Senator Watson expressed the view that while authorities repeatedly talk of work being done including studies, consultancies, and papers to advance the sector, consumers are being left behind.
“We are still going full steam ahead with rates setting, tariff setting, doling out licences. How can you do that if you haven’t yet figured out how you are shaping the sector and when you are still trying to figure out the impacts of the work that you will be doing to shape the sector, particularly on consumers?…. That seems to me to be a rather tone-deaf approach to the situation.
“It shows a lack of planning. It shows a lack of consideration for the people who have to pay the bills, the consumers, and every time we hear the members of government speak about this sector, we hear about all of the stakeholder conversations and then consumers, the users who have to pay and who have to pay the inflationary costs of increasing electricity rates are mentioned as also-rans. That also does not make sense to me,” she said.
Senator Watson also warned that Barbados was behind the game in telecommunications reform. She said it was time for the government to review the services that are subject to regulation.
“The government needs to step up its game on its management of the sector, the quality of the network offerings, not just the end product that is offered to consumers but what is happening with the network that is causing the outages and the failings with Internet connectivity, etc. because that too is a critical economic vehicle and we are suffering right now,” the lawyer and former telecommunications specialist said.
“We are challenged with the performance and performance is in the hands of the ministry, not the Fair Trading Commission. That is a licensing issue. It needs to be addressed.”
Senator Watson also urged authorities to look at closer regulation of broadband connectivity, including pricing and performance.
In response, Minister of Energy and Business Senator Lisa Cummins said the government is clear that the protection of consumers has to be paramount.
She stressed that her ministry which holds responsibility for consumer affairs will balance all interests.
“Studying, revising, reforming, updating policy must be a constant activity of any government to make sure that we are fit for purpose and keeping pace with the times. That’s what we do. That’s how we govern, engaging with stakeholders to hear what their concerns are in real-time,” she said. (SD)
