The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune. 

Kindly permit me to publicly express my views on the Electricity Bill, 2024, which would permit Bahamas Power and Light (BPL), or any electricity supplier, to set their own tariff rates for three years without approval from the Utilities Regulation & Competition Authority (URCA).

According to reports, this legislative initiative is connected with the government decision to enter a Public Private Partnership (PPP) with a company to manage the transmission, distribution and generation of electricity at BPL.

Unsurprisingly the government has yet to disclose whether such a PPP would involve a local or foreign entity or a combination of both and equally unsurprising, very little details were made public.

I accept that BPL is desperately in need of assistance, financial and otherwise. I also accept and appreciate why a private partner/investor would want some degree of flexibility and freedom in respect to rates it can levy, however I do not see the necessity or the wisdom in the government removing/suspending regulatory oversight in the area of tariff imposition in the manner it did.

If the intent was to provide a level of comfort for a prospective investor, it may have been more preferable to have an agreed upon set of metrics which would trigger a rate review and a corresponding adjustment. It is not prudent, in my view, to construct a legislative arrangement which gives the private partner unbridled powers to implement tariff as they wish.

Whether BPL remains a single entity or is subdivided into three separate entities, does not lessen my concern, because whether operating separately or jointly, it will still be capable of employing monopolistic and commercially manipulative practices.

Also, it is extremely unwise to turn the country’s main electrical grid over to private interest and leave them unrestrained, especially in respect to rates that can be levied on citizens and the business community which is the life blood of the economy.

It is always the government’s responsibility to ensure that appropriate measures are in place, either through legislative enactment or by way of policy initiatives, to ensure that electricity and other essential utilities are efficiently produced and accessible to the users at a rate reasonably commensurate with its cost with an allowance made for any investing partner to recoup a reasonable return on investment.

Irrespective of whether electricity is provided by private or public carriers, there ought to be oversight by a commission or a body, particularly in area of provisioning, allocation and tariff imposition.

As Bahamians we ought to be universally disturbed that BPL is one on a long list of PPPs involving essential public utilities and entities which have been brought about mainly, due to mismanagement, neglect and poor political decisions.

BPL is also just the latest in a number of troubling PPPs which carries a “foul odour” due to a lack of transparency and an almost contemptuous posture being displayed by the government when asked for information.

It was also reported, that under the bill, the Minister responsible for energy may by order, for a period of three years, adjust the tariff for any public electricity service provider based on the need of any category of persons stated in the order.

I appreciate that there ought to be some legislative provision in the bill to protect vulnerable persons and entities, and if it is the intent to accomplish this objective by empowering the minister, I still find it somewhat unwise and enormously troubling for a political figurehead to be so empowered.

And this is not intended to convey any personal disrespect or mistrust towards or ill intent on the part of the minister identified in the bill. Our society is just too politically polarised and any decision made will be met with political derision and contempt.

There are agencies well qualified and trained who can provide the representation required for those persons and entities who may need special attention and protection.

Having not read the bill, I would reserve further comments for the time being, however, given what has been made public thus far, the bill ought to be revisited.

Claude B Hanna

April 28, 2024