The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

AN outspoken advocacy group will today warn the Prime Minister of its “absolute opposition” to Emera’s potential acquisition of 100 per cent of Grand Bahama Power Company (GBPC).

Pastor Eddie Victor, president of the Coalition of Concerned Citizens (CCC), told Tribune Business that the group will “mobilise” against the proposed transaction (see other article on Page 1B) because “no Bahamian utility should be fully-owned by a foreign entity”.

Pastor Victor, who has led the campaign for lower electricity costs in Grand Bahama, expressed concern that the proposed buy-out of the minority 19.63 per cent Bahamian equity interest in GB Power would give Emera total dominance over the island’s energy market.

Arguing that Emera and GB Power had failed to deliver lower cost, more reliable energy for Grand Bahama to-date, he suggested they would be even less likely to do so if the Canadian utility giant converts its majority shareholding into 100 per cent ownership.

Pastor Victor also railed against the failure of GB Power’s primary regulator, the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA), to properly protect consumers from electricity prices the Coalition believes should be lower. He reiterated previous calls for the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) to replace the Port Authority as GB Power’s primary regulator, arguing that this was needed more than ever should the Bahamian minority shareholder buyout proceed.

GB Power is still challenging URCA’s authority to regulate it in the Supreme Court, and Pastor Victor also expressed surprise that the Government - through the Bahamas Investment Authority (BIA)- had approved the Emera buy-out prior to the transaction’s disclosure.

]”I don’t have to talk to my leaders. I can say this,” Pastor Victor replied, when informed by Tribune Business of the proposed deal. “Our Coalition is absolutely opposed to Emera obtaining 100 per cent control of that company.

“By Monday a letter will be in the Prime Minister’s Office on this. We believe there is a need for another power company on the island. And we believe that company [GB Power] need to be sold to another entity other than Emera.

“This is typical of Emera. If you follow what they have been doing in other jurisdictions, they seek to take control and dominate. The only reason why they want 100 per cent has a lot to do with them wanting to take control of the energy market.”

Emera on Friday unveiled its proposal to buy-out the 39.26 per cent minority Bahamian equity interest in BISX-listed ICD Utilities, the holding vehicle for a 50 per cent stake in GB Power, the island’s electricity monopoly.

The Canadian utility has form for such transactions in the Caribbean, having performed a similar buy-out of local interest in its Barbados-based power company. It told Tribune Business at the weekend that the GB Power offer is “a win-win” for all stakeholders.

Pastor Victor, though, is far from convinced. “We’re very concerned,” he told this newspaper. “We should have no utility entity in the Bahamas that is owned 100 per cent by a foreign entity.

“The evidence is out there on Grand Bahama. Emera’s energy policies and mode of operations on this island have had a negative effect on the business community, where many businesses have closed altogether due to the cost of electricity.

“It has also resulted in - we don’t know the exact number, but it’s in the hundreds - people living without electricity on the island, and it’s a major impediment to investment.”

Pastor Victor said the ICD Utilities buy-out appeared designed to further strengthen Emera’s position on Grand Bahama, and he hit out at a regulatory regime the Coalition believes favours GB Power as opposed to consumers.

“They’re not regulating as a regulator ought to do; protecting the consumers and looking out for the consumer,” he told Tribune Business of the Port Authority (GBPA).

“That’s why we have a problem with the present regulatory regime. It’s not set up to protect the consumer like regulation should do.”

Pastor Victor said the Coalition and its consultants, one of whom was a Bahamian-born engineer with experience in power generation and distribution, had met three times with the regulatory committee over GB Power’s last rate application.

Despite presenting research that the Coalition president said showed Grand Bahama residents were paying higher base tariffs than BEC customers, the GB Power application was approved.

“We relayed in our meetings that the regulatory regime was working in favour of Emera,” Pastor Victor said. “Despite our efforts, we were really probably wasting our time.”

Arguing that monopolies have “a greater responsibility to deliver customer satisfaction” because they have no competition, Pastor Victor said GB Power had failed to meet this standard.

He said the utility’s push for higher base rates, and a fuel charge that had failed to decrease in line with the reduction in global oil prices, showed GB Power and its controlling investor were more concerned about shareholder profits than Grand Bahama’s economic welfare.

“If they’re not doing it now, it’s not going to happen with a 100 per cent controlled company,” Pastor Victor told Tribune Business on the need for cheaper, more efficient energy. “We’re going to see a deepening of control, and it will give them more power to do things that are not working in the best interest of the Bahamian people. We can’t let that happen.

“The pattern these companies have shown is they’re not really concerned with developing our economy. Things are not good here, and the cost of electricity is a major part of the problem. We believe that if we bring down the cost of power, we change the economy.

“We’re trying to change the dynamics of the economy,” the Coalition president added, “so that businesses operate with greater profitability and people have more jobs, and can have their lights on. We’re fighting for the needs of the island; a vital utility. We’re going to oppose it.”