The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Initiatives such as Bahamas Power & Light’s (BPL) proposed consumer protection plan are designed to drive it to “world class service levels”, regulators have revealed.

Shevonn Cambridge, the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority’s (URCA) head of energy regulation, said the plan and associated public consultation had the ultimate objective of improving Bahamians’ “quality of life” by making BPL a better service provider.

The utility monopoly has been much-derided in recent years for its relatively high prices and inability to keep the lights on, and Mr Cambridge indicated the consumer protection plan was an effort to redress the balance more in favour of consumers.

“We’re trying to get the utility to the position where it provides a world-class level of service, something that’s not only competitive on a regional level,” he told a Bahamas Society of Engineers (BSE) luncheon meeting.

“It’s all about making the licensee a better provider, so consumers enjoy a better quality of service and better quality of life.”

BPL’s draft consumer protection plan was challenged by engineers, including Debbie Deal, head of the Chamber of Commerce’s energy and environment division, who suggested that its title was a misnomer and that it should be renamed given the restrictions on consumer compensation for damaged electronic equipment.

However, Mr Cambridge told Tribune Business that the plan was “a good first step”, given that this was the first attempt at such a document by a Bahamian utility provider. He added that consumers also needed to become familiar with the concept.

However, he acknowledged that URCA has no power to regulate BPL’s tariff prices for the first five years of the Electricity Act, due to the Government’s management agreement with PowerSecure.

While that arrangement may be on shaky ground, URCA has no influence until 2020. “URCA does not have any involvement in rate setting aspects for the first five years with the current agreement the Government has with its management company,” Mr Cambridge confirmed. 

“We won’t be doing any major review of it for the next five years.”

Mr Cambridge added that, as a ‘natural monopoly’, BPL needed to be regulated to ensure it constantly strives to improve its efficiency, services, and charges the most competitive prices.

“I often get the question why regulate a monopoly or sector without any competition, unlike the communications sector,” he added. ‘What we have with electricity is what’s called a natural monopoly.

“In the absence of competition, something has to spur this organisation to want to do better, rather than any intrinsic desire to do so. Through regulation, that’s what we hope to achieve.”