The Mia Mottley administration has tabled a new Electricity Supply Bill 2024 without any notice to the voters and consumers of Barbados.

This development will not come as a surprise to Barbadians, whom I have urged to be vigilant, and to pay close attention to what has been happening in our energy sector for the past few years. The first thing that I want Barbadians to know today, and to keep in mind, is that the electricity sector is worth $4 BILLION yearly to the Barbados economy, according to this government’s figures. 4 BILLION dollars, and all that regular Barbadians are seeing is electricity price increases!

In 2021, the Barbados Light and Power applied for a $46M/year increase in electricity rates…almost double the increase it was granted in 2010.  You will recall that in the months following that application, the local media carried stories with big players in the sector, like the then Minster of Energy, the Honourable Kerrie Symmonds, like The Most Honourable Ralph, “Bizzy” Williams, and like the Barbados Renewable Energy Association, openly praising the Barbados Light and Power and strongly supporting its call for a rate increase even though the Light and Power hadn’t actually proven its case.

You will remember that early in 2022, Intervenors became involved in the rate case, as has been provided for by Barbados law since the 1950s when it was a colony, ruled from England.  Because of the work of intervenors, evidence started to come out that showed that the case was by no means the slam dunk that the Light and Power had been making it out to be. 

To make a long story short, INTERVENORS proved that the rate increase was not justified.  INTERVENORS also proved that the Barbados Light and Power had unlawfully (the FTC’s word) removed monies from the Self Insurance Fund to pay $100 Million in dividends.  It also diverted another $100 Million in rates collected specifically for insurance purposes and paid dividends.  That’s over $200 Million of rate payers’ money paid in dividends to its parent company Emera. All of this was uncovered by INTERVENORS…and NOT volunteered by the Barbados Light and Power…and just as important, these acts were NOT addressed by the FTC who were aware of the Barbados Light and Power’s unlawful actions when they were happening.

And what did the Government do?  In July 2022, the Mottley government tabled legislation essentially to get rid of ‘pesky’ intervenors in electricity matters. At that time, they tried to sneak the Electric Light and Power (Amendment) Bill, 2022, through OUR parliament, to exclude intervenors from the electricity licensing process. I am the personwho alerted Barbadians to that Bill. What most Barbadians do not know is that out of concern about what was happening in the sector, and how Barbados Light and Power was operating, I had intervened in its licence applications that it gave notice of in September 2021. Barbados Light and Power and the government have never proceeded with those applications up to now.  

I know you remember the vile and vicious attacks made by the Senior Minister against me and a fellow intervenor when he led off the debate in the House.  I don’t need to rehash that.  It was carried widely in the media.

Then, in December 2023, the current Minister of Energy tried to sneak a Bill that would exempt renewable energy companies from the FTC’s jurisdiction at the minister’s discretion, which let’s be frank, was also about excluding intervenors from looking out for the interests of electricity consumers. Again, when everyone else was silent, including some who are suddenly very noisy about energy these days, I was the person that alerted Barbadians to that stealth move.

Since that 2021 rate application, the Barbados Light and Power filed another case asking for a rate increase equivalent to DOUBLE the increase requested in the 2021 application, to recover another $800 million from rate payers.  Again, it is the work of INTERVENORS that protected already heavily burdened consumers and voters from that increase.

Now I have to AGAIN alert Barbadians to the Mottley government sneaking and rushing this Electricity Supply Bill through parliament this week with no notice to the people who will bear ALL of the costs, higher rates, non-transparent licensing, exemption from licensing for favoured players. Most egregiously though, THE BILL GETS RID OF INTERVENORS.  The Bill also fails to set out clear procedures or a framework for reviewing licence applications, and instead gives sweeping, unfettered, powers to the Minister who, as an unelected member of cabinet, currently does not even have to face the electorate.  She can do as she pleases and doesn’t have to answer to anyone except her Prime Minister.

One of the primary differences between this new Bill and the existing Act is the matter of licences.  Both in and out of the Senate, I have called for the terms of the licences to be disclosed to Barbadians. These licences that are critical to Barbadians having access to reliable, secure and AFFORDABLE electricity have been kept from the public by the Government of Barbados for over three years.  Yet the same government has happily shared them with Emera, the Barbados Light and Power’s Canadian owners.  When you read the Bill you’ll see that a licence issued to a “Utility”, like the Barbados Light and Power, shall be issued “for such period, being not less than 25 years, upon such terms and conditions as the Minister considers appropriate for the purposes of this Act.”

We have no idea what “such terms and conditions”are, nor what “the Minister considers appropriate”.

We, the voters and electricity rate payers, have little choice or voice in what laws this 30-0 government passes, but the public deserves to see what 25 year noose the minister will put around our necks in the form of electricity licences.  25 years is a long time.

These electricity licences do not belong to the Mottley cabinet or to any politician. They belong to you and me. We are the ones that will bear the cost of rising electricity prices, high rates of return to large Renewable Energy players, and whatever else has been promised to the likes of Emera that is being hidden from the voters and consumers of Barbados. There is no transparency, no accountability, no integrity, no JUSTICE in this! Barbadians must ask the BLP government, why the details of OUR licences are being kept secret from US! 

When we consider that this new Bill will eradicate any rigorous and transparent electricity licensing process , we must ask why the Barbados government would prefer this unstructured, non-transparent, non-inclusive, non-participatory, non-people-centered approach to licensing in the electricity sector. We must ask how electricity consumers will benefit directly from this approach to licensing as proposed in the new Bill. We, the buyers and users of electricity, must insist that our government give us answers to these questions, before this new law is passed.

Before new electricity licences are agreed with any licensee in Barbados, they should be circulated, and thorough, adequate public consultation about the licences should occur.  Publication of the draft licenses and public consultation on them prior to implementation would be in line with the government’s professed commitment to transparency, inclusion, participation, and civil society engagement, and would result in enhanced protection of the interests of consumers and citizens of Barbados. The Barbados government agrees with this, in its words abroad on global platforms, but, at home in Barbados, it is not practicing what it preaches .

As an example, in 2021, under the auspices of the same ministry as the one responsible for electricity regulation, the Barbados government engaged in a 6 week long Joint Select Committee public consultation on the National Vending Bill, the law to govern vending in Barbados, before the government moved to pass and implement that law.  Barbadians should demand no less a process before the Barbados government moves to pass and implement the laws and licence terms and conditions that will govern the supply of electricity, that essential commodity which we Barbadians rely on to work productively and to live comfortably.

Finally, I am not being immodest when I say that this Government and the Minister, afraid of my expertise, sat on this Bill for the better part of a year and didn’t dare to offer it up for debate or scrutiny during the 6 months I was in the Senate.  Now they are rushing the Bill through the Parliament, obviously with the sure and certain knowledge that the official opposition, including the Leader of the Opposition himself, and his two senators, who have been silent about this development, will offer little or no informed challenge to the Bill.  

This Electricity Supply Bill 2024, and the acts of this government in relation to the electricity sector, are simply a betrayal of the trust of the people of Barbados and Barbadians should be outraged by this!

• Tricia Watson is a former Senator and is a legal and regulatory expert that has advised Barbados government on electricity and telecommunications licensing and regulation. She is currently intervening as a citizen advocate in the Barbados Light and Power Company Limited’s (BL&P) various requests for electricity price increases, on behalf of Barbados’ consumers of electricity. She is committed to keeping Barbadians informed about the on-going rate cases, and about electricity regulation and management issues that will affect all users of electricity in Barbados.