Black Immigrant Daily News
The Barbados Light and Power Company Ltd (BLPC) has expressed their dissatisfaction with the Fair Trading Commission’s (FTC) decision to reject their request for an increase in electricity rates at this time, and is demanding the financial regulator review the ruling.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the utility company said that FTC’s decision has already negatively impacted their corporate image and could sap investor confidence.
BLPC announced that they have filed a Motion to Review and Stay of the Implementation of the FTC’s decision, to temporarily halt its application.
“Last week, the regulator accepted our Motion for Review and agreed to hear the matter over the coming months. We look forward to this.”
BLPC stated that FTC’s ruling in February was “deeply concerning”, as it contradicted previous decisions made by regulator.
“Our primary concerns are the retroactive actions and inequitable adjustments in the decision which, we believe, send a negative message to investors and could undermine investor confidence.
The regulator, in its decision, has changed decisions it made several years in the past. Altering rules years after decisions have been made impacts not only the utility and customers, but also the long term stability of the energy market and all investors in the sector,” the statement said.
BLPC also queried FTC’s decision to discontinue the ability to use batteries, which aligned with the country’s 2030 renewable energy goals.
“At this time the island urgently needs a substantial amount of batteries to achieve its renewable energy policy goals. We purchased batteries in 2018, which have been instrumental in balancing the renewable energy expansion on the grid. We are therefore perplexed as to why they have disallowed and the prudence of future batteries questioned, especially considering the critical need for more batteries to support the island’s energy transition,” BLPC continued.
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