By KEILE CAMPBELL
Tribune Staff Reporter
kcampbell@tribunemedia.net
THE Ministry of Energy and Transport wants the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) to use its powers under the Electricity Act to stop the Grand Bahama Power Company’s proposed electricity base rate increase.
The ministry expressed strong objections and said the proposal had not undergone proper regulatory review.
It said the GBPC's claim of having sole regulatory authority over electricity tariffs breaches electricity laws of 2015 and 2024, laws that designated URCA as the regulatory body overseeing the energy sector throughout The Bahamas.
URCA released a separate statement yesterday supporting this view. URCA said the GBPC had not submitted a tariff rate application for UCRA to consider.
“URCA does not recognise the authority of any other entity to regulate electricity anywhere in The Bahamas and has not dele- gated any such authority to any other entity,” the regulator said.
“URCA will not hesitate to use its powers established under the law to ensure that anyone aiding in the contravention of the law is subject to appropriate action.”
The Davis administration’s Electricity Act reforms in July sought to circumvent the port authority’s quasi-governmental authority to regulate the energy sector.
Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis acknowledged this, saying: “We wish to reaffirm our longstanding regulatory authority.”
Ian Rolle, the GBPA’s president, later said the authority “remains resolute in our stance” that the Hawksbill Creek Agreement’s provisions supersede statute law amendments designed to make URCA the supervisory body for all utilities in Freeport.
The GBPC said on Tuesday that it submitted a rate plan proposal to the GBPA for consideration. The utility company wants to raise the base rate for Grand Bahama customers by 6.3 percent. The company said the rate change could cause a "small all-in" decrease for most electricity customers.
Comments
Dawes 4 months, 2 weeks ago
Did URCA do anything to stop any of the increases that BPL had in the last few years. No, they didn't even investigate it. I assume that is because BPL is basically Government so they don't touch that. URCA is just a cushy job for those connected who will never actually do what they are supposed to unless told by government.
moncurcool 4 months, 2 weeks ago
Ditto
UCRA is just useless.
While I believe the GBPA has some issues, I am all in with them on this one.
DWW 4 months, 2 weeks ago
well Davis & Co. just made URCA 100% irrelevant so what ga-wan? The govt cannot have it both ways unless they truly are imitating a dictatorship style silo mentality of zero public accounting or disclosure. Am I wrong? The entire property tax role is intended to be publically available for anyone to review at anytime according to the property tax act but is it? How do I know if my neighbor is getting a sweetheart deal on his property tax while I have a huge bill to pay every year? Where there is smoke there is fire and where there is no public disclosure there is a definite perception of impropriety.
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