FTC stands by decision on Light & Power disclosures

The Fair Trading Commission on Friday defended its refusal to disclose additional financial statements requested in the ongoing Barbados Light & Power rate review, insisting it is acting within legal boundaries and maintaining a fair balance between consumer interests and regulatory process.

FTC Chief Executive Officer Brian Reece told Barbados TODAY that the commission had already refused intervenor Ricky Went’s request for extra financial statements and would not be providing the documents sought, given the current status of the rate hearing and the case now before the courts.

“We had responded to Mr Went, formally, on the matter, because the information he had requested was related to the rate hearing,” Reece said.

“The rate hearing has actually been concluded…. The rate hearing concluded in 2023 with the issuance of our decision. And the matter is presently before the courts.”

Went, who leads the team of intervenors, has called on the FTC to require Light & Power to release its audited non-consolidated financial statements for 2022 to 2024 and the 2025 half-year report.

He maintains that these are necessary to assess whether the utility is over-earning, particularly since the interim rate increase approved by the FTC in September 2022 remains in effect and the appeal of the 2023 decision is still pending.

But Reece made clear that the FTC does not intend to compel further disclosure under the circumstances.

“The request that was made is not one that would normally be responded to in the manner that Mr Went had specifically requested it… because it is really at the end or after the conclusion of the rate hearing,” he said. “So we’ve responded to him in kind. We’ve provided him with the guidance that we believe he requires.”

Went rejected the commission’s reasoning and argued that it had not acknowledged all of his follow-up correspondence.

He maintained that intervenors remain within their rights to examine BLPC’s performance since the interim rate increase was implemented and that the 2023 decision itself requires compliance filings that have not been disclosed.

Reece, however, insisted that the FTC is acting within the scope of its responsibilities.

“I do think that we are balancing quite adequately our responsibility to the consumers and to the intervenors as well,” the CEO said. “At the same time, [we are] still ensuring that we are not creating a precedent that is not necessarily in keeping with the processes… the regulatory processes that we are charged with conducting.”

The case is expected to return to the High Court in December.

 (SM)