Transport wants URCA to stop GBPC rate rise

By KEILE CAMPBELL, Tribune Staff Reporter

kcampbell@tribunemedia.net

Grand Bahama Power Company headquarters.

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.