BL&P grid mystery baffling government

The amount of money that the Barbados Light & Power (BL&P) spends to maintain the island’s electricity grid and on new technology has been described by a senior government minister as one of the biggest mysteries on the island.

St James Central Member of Parliament and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kerrie Symmonds made the disclosure on Monday in the House of Assembly as he led debate on the 2024 Electricity Supply Bill which, if passed, will
repeal and replace the existing Electric Light and Power Act of 2013.

Symmonds, a former Minister of Energy, told the Chamber there were several weaknesses in the Electric Light and Power Act and how the market was to be monitored as well as how the plan for the electricity system on the island was to be developed.

“One of the biggest secrets in Barbados is how the grid functions. One of the biggest secrets in Barbados is how the electrical grid in Barbados is maintained, what money is put into maintenance and new technology and so on in the grid.

“Even the Ministry of Energy cannot tell you with absolute certainty what is the level of commitment of reinvestment that is made into the grid on a month-by-month, year-by-year basis. We can’t have that,” Symmonds outlined.

The senior minister stressed there was a need to satisfy commercial developments, including several large tourism-based investments.

During his contribution, Symmonds cited deficiencies in the current legislation, including its failure to address permission to change ownership of licences in the renewable energy generation industry.

“This is a practical matter, again, that raised its head as we saw the licences unfold. People will make an investment, but in the back part of their minds, they’re not interested in the same thing that perhaps government is interested in,” he said.

Symmonds said a person or entity that purchases a licence from an existing holder could expose the grid to instability and risk its integrity if they did not have the capacity to maintain the installation.

“There has to be a satisfactory balance of requirements, balance of relationship between those people who are going to be the consumer at the end of the day, that they can know that they’re going to have a secure and uninterrupted supply and adequate generation,” he said. “The original piece of legislation did not satisfactorily do that either . . . . We had to be concerned about the state or departments of the government. Let’s put it this way – different departments of the government cannot each be entitled to their own regime.” (IMC1)