The Tribune

• Last Christie administration left out key standards

• Frequency, voltage benchmarks missing in new Act

• URCA moves to ‘reinstate’ fried devices protection

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Regulators are scrambling to fill a “void” created by Parliament in electricity sector supervision which has potentially left Bahamians at the mercy of appliance-destroying voltage and frequency fluctuations without recourse.

The Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA), in outlining for electricity quality and reliability benchmarks it plans to impose on Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) and other public suppliers outside Grand Bahama, revealed that the last Christie administration and the then-Parliament blundered by failing to ensure voltage and electricity standards survived the switch to a new regulatory regime.

Such standards were included in the previous Electricity Act and the Out Islands Electricity Act, but these were repealed when the Electricity Act 2015 was passed by Parliament to usher in the energy sector’s new supervisory regime. The URCA paper revealed that they “were not explicitly included” in the latter Act, and any regulations or rules that accompanied it - something that was not picked up any sitting minister or MP at the time.

URCA, saying it had become aware of the regulatory hole this has created during “investigations” into multiple energy sector-related complaints, has now issued a consultation document on the “standard for power quality and reliability in electric power systems” in a bid to “re-establish and expand” on those frequency and voltage benchmarks.

Tribune Business records show the minister responsible for leading the Electricity Act’s introduction to Parliament, and passage into law, was then-deputy prime minister and minister of works with responsibility for BPL, and now prime minister, Philip Davis KC.

Spelling out the problem that it is now seeking to correct, URCA said: “In fulfilling the Electricity Act mandate, URCA is cognisant of the fact that the production of electricity inherently carries the risk of variations in the ideal (nominal) value that is intended to be produced by the electricity supplier (quality), as well as variations in the consistency of supply (reliability).

“URCA also notes that these variations can have disruptive effects on equipment connected to the electricity grid, such as motors and timers or other frequency or voltage sensitive devices In order to mitigate this risk, URCA proposes to implement rules that outline the minimum technical standards for electricity supply.

“Section 78 of the Electricity Act 2015 repealed the Electricity Act (Chapter 194) and the Out Islands Electricity Act (Chapter 195). The legislation at that time included supply standards for voltage and frequency. These standards were not explicitly included in the legislation that replaced it – the Electricity Act 2015. Hence this consultation document is intended to re-establish and expand on those standards.”

Going further, URCA added: “Prior to the establishment of the Electricity Act 2015, the electricity sector was governed by the now-repealed Electricity Act and Out Islands Electricity Act which, along with their subsidiary legislation, included - albeit limited - rules and technical standards for the supply of electricity......

“While the new act broadened the scope for the regulation of the sector, the complete subsidiary legislation regarding the technical standards required for the electricity sector was not contained in the relevant savings and transitional provisions of the Electricity Act. One instance of this was the technical standards to which electricity suppliers were to adhere when supplying their service territory with electricity.

“This became apparent to URCA in the course of its review of the electricity sector legislation and its investigations into several electricity sector complaints. Notwithstanding any codification or inclusion of these standards in internal licensees’ consumer protection plans, a void still exists for the application of technical standards for public electricity supply licensees (PESLs) and authorised public electricity supplier licensees (APELs) in the electricity sector.”

URCA added that the standards it now proposes to set, both for power quality and reliability, represent “good operational practice” for the likes of BPL and its generation and transmission and distribution systems, as well as better protection for consumers from having their electrical appliances fried or suffering brown outs.

The regulator acknowledged the “rapid technological advancement in consumer electronics”, coupled with “the sensitivity of those devices to abnormal and/or unhealthy perturbations in the supply of electricity”. As a result, its power quality standards will focus on “the parameters” that the voltage, current and frequency supplied by BPL and others must remain between, and not go outside, plus ensuring “consistency” of service.

When it comes to frequency, URCA is proposing that this cannot be more or less than 2 percent higher/lower than the “nominal supply level”, which it identified as 60 hertz - the same as in the previous now-repealed regulatory regime. “The Bahamas’ electricity system operates on a nominal frequency of 60 Hertz. Deviations from this value can cause issues with clocks and other time-dependent devices,” the regulator added.

“Electrical frequency is one of the electrical system parameters that was included in the Out Islands Electricity Act (Chapter 195) and omitted from successor legislation. In the preceding legislation, electrical frequency was mandated to be maintained within a range of plus or minus two percent of the nominal frequency.”

URCA added that even small changes in frequency “leads to large changes in power” for motor speeds, while “abnormal frequencies make it difficult for generators to stay synchronised and can damage windings and other components”. Voltage standards, too, were also omitted from the new regulatory regime.

“Both high and low voltage levels can lead to issues with electrical and electronic equipment. For example, low voltages will cause higher currents in the circuit than the equipment is designed, leading to overheating, insulation breakdown and other issues. High voltages can lead to leakage currents, dielectric breakdown and insulation failure,” the regulator said.

“Electricity voltage is one of the electrical system parameters that was included in the Out Islands Electricity Act (Chapter 195) and omitted from successor legislation. In the preceding legislation, the declared voltages were mandated to be maintained within a range of plus or minus 6 percent of the nominal voltage.” URCA is now proposing that this 6 percent range be reinstated.

These omissions mean that, currently, BPL has to comply with no frequency or voltage standards other than those set out in its licence. Grid stability, and fluctuations in the frequency and voltage supplied by BPL, have been cited for years as a leading cause of electrical equipment failure by Bahamian households and businesses.

One source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “This will certainly ring true with anybody who has lost a fridge, a TV or Internet router. It’s quite serious. It affects everything from why a router periodically freezes because it uses 60 Hertz as a reference point. Everything is frequency sensitive. Cable boxes, medical equipment, everything depends on a stable global norm, which we are outside of 80 percent of the time.

“BPL cannot attain this. It’s not attainable by them. If they’re going to set a specification, they’re going to have a hey day with BPL trying to get them to comply with it.”