The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas remains a long way from generating 30 percent of its energy mix from renewable sources by 2030 even though last year saw a 26 percent increase in installed capacity from such systems.

The Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA), in its 2022 annual report and 2023 action plan, revealed that at end-2022 there were some 305 installed renewable energy systems in The Bahamas representing a combined 6,242 kilowatts (kW). These were split into 244 residential, and 61 commercial, systems with the former responsible for 1,859 kW of capacity and the latter some 4,383 kW.

The vast majority, some 291, were based on New Providence with a combined installed capacity of 4,931 kW. Of the 14 others, ten were located on Eleuthera. “The vast majority of renewable energy systems installed in the country are solar (photovoltaic),”URCA said. “ Since 2021, there was a 22 percent increase in the number of systems online and a 26 percent increase in the installed capacity. Most of this occurred on New Providence.

“Gekabi Chub Cay Utilities has commissioned a 4 MW (Mega Watt) solar plant with 10 MWh (mega watt hours) battery back up allowing them to become almost entirely independent of fossil fuels. In 2022, BPL commissioned a 0.4 MW solar plant with battery storage in Ragged Island. In 2022, BPL also commenced work on solar and energy storage projects on Abaco.”

Meanwhile, URCA’s 2023 annual plan shows it has rejected demands by both Cable Bahamas and, to a lesser extent, the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) to scale back on the 23 percent year-over-year hike in the regulator’s annual budget. A quick review by Tribune Business indicates that nothing has changed, with all expense items - including the $7.959m operating budget to be recovered from licensee fees - the same as those figures in the initial draft.

Cable Bahamas, in responding to URCA’s initial draft plan consultation, said: “The group is astounded with the presentation of this year’s draft Budget figures/amounts, both the combined electronic communications sector and electricity sector draft budgets and the individual electronic communications sector budget. URCA’s significant increase in the budget amounts for 2023, in the absence of detailed explanations or justification, is a cause for great concern to licensees.

“The days of telcos being a ‘cash cow’ are decidedly over and the mantra of the industry today is fiscal restraint and the reduction of administrative and operating costs. There are increasing financial pressures to maintain existing networks, invest in expensive upgrades and provide new and more costly networks and services.

“Given the archipelagic nature of our country and the relatively small population, telecommunications is an expensive venture and with robust competition profits necessary for reinvestment are on the decline. URCA’s draft 2023 Budget reflects an ‘it is what it is’ approach with little consideration for the changing financial dynamics of the sector and the challenges faced by licensed operators.”

Cable Bahamas continued: “Given that this is a draft budget, and the fact that there can be no reasonable justification for a 23 percent overall increase in the combined operating budget, URCA is urged and encouraged to redraft the 2023 combined budget with the object of reducing the $7.959m total operation expenditure to be recovered from licensees, which is $1.26m over the prior year 2022 of $6.698m and bring it more in line with 2022’s budget with, at the very most, a minimal 5 percent to 10 percent increase year-over-year.

“Indeed, the excessive budget increases being imposed on licensees, combined with increasing attempts by URCA to impose fines which are disproportionate to the alleged matter for which the fine is being applied, amounts to an assault on the finances of licensed operators in the sector.”