The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The private sector yesterday hailed what it described as a “new paradigm” for the Bahamian energy sector, as the Government introduced a legislative package to Parliament to facilitate long-awaited reforms.

Edison Sumner, the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC) chief excecutive, said: “We are very pleased that the Bills were finally presented. We think that this paves the way for what we see as being the transformation of the country’s energy sector, where we see the restructuring of BEC by allowing PowerSecure to come.

“We are looking to see their business plan and how they intend to carry out that objective. We saw this process coming to the fore weeks ago with the naming of the new BEC board”

Mr Sumner added: “The fact that they have tabled the Bills is certainly a step in the right direction. It’s something we intend to highlight at our security forum in December.

“We are really excited that we are now moving in the right direction and, if everything goes the way it should, we should see some significant changes in the not too-distant future. This is certainly a new paradigm.”

Mr Sumner urged the Government, PowerSecure and the new BEC Board to continue to engage the private sector. “This will not only impact every private citizen but also international investors, as the cost of energy is often at the top of the list of investors coming in. We will be able to strike the cost of energy off as a deterrent,” he added.

Deputy Prime Minister Philip Davis yesterday presented the Electricity Bill 2015, the Utilities and Competition Amendment Bill 2015 and the Electricity Rate Reduction Bond Bill 2015 to Parliament.

During his debate contribution yesterday, Mr Davis said a year-over-year comparison showed BEC’s fuel charge was about 60 per cent lower than it was in October 2014. He added that the fuel charge was 27.7 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) in October 2014, and 11.4 cents per kWh in October 2015.

“The plan will create efficiencies, which will further allow for significant and sustainable reductions in the cost of energy, increased energy security and reliability, environmental responsibility and increased competitiveness as a country,” Mr Davis added, alluding to the reform efforts.

The Electricity Bill 2015 “provides for the separation of regulatory and operations functions by the restructuring of the Bahamas Electricity Corporation. It does this by transferring its commercial operating functions and assets to a wholly-owned subsidiary company, and establishes URCA as the independent sector regulator”.

Mr Davis said the Board of the new subsidiary, Bahamas Power & Light, presented the Government with an “all-encompassing investment-grade Business Plan” last week.

Finally, the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority Act (Amendment) Bill establishes URCA as the independent regulator of the electricity sector. URCA’s primary responsibilities under the new Electricity Bill will include “the review and approval electricity tariff rates charged to the consumer; the review of the need for additional electricity generation by independent power producers; the establishment of rules and approval of competitive processes where applicable for procurement of power generation resources conducted by BPL, or any other public electricity supplier; and ensure such rules are fair, consistent and compatible with the objectives and principles of the electricity sector and national energy policies; and ensuring the efficient operation of the electricity supply system in accordance with applicable regulations”.