The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

A well-known private sector representative yesterday lauded the decision to make the Utilities Regulation & Competition Authority (URCA) the independent regulator for the Bahamas’ energy sector, adding that it would now start to fulfill the role it was created for.

Edison Sumner, the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation’s (BCCEC) chief executive, while addressing a press conference to announce the Chamber’s second annual energy security forum, said: “URCA has been pretty much an independent, autonomous body.

“The only way that I think the sector is going to have the level of confidence that they need to have in URCA is if it maintains its level of level of independence, or perhaps  even more autonomy, so that it is free from any kind of political interference or other forms of influence.

“For us it is important that URCA remains an independent or quasi-independent body and continues to operate with the strength that it has.”

Mr Sumner added: “It was established to be the utilities regulator, not the telecommunications regulator, and now that that role is expanding to what it really ought to be, I think it is a good thing for the private sector and for the country at large.”

Jack Roosevelt,  managing director of Blue Wave Capital, which is a sponsor of the upcoming energy forum, said that allowing URCA to regulate  the electricity sector “will allow for the sector’s growth and necessary changes.”

Romauld Ferreira, environmental attorney and consultant, said that having URCA as the regulator will also introduce a new level of customer service satisfaction.

“Now there will be an independent party to take complaints to. Rate increases will have to be approved by URCA the same way we do in the telecommunications sector. That’s the way of the future, modernising the the sector and increasing transparency,” Mr Ferreira said.