The Barbados Light & Power Company has firmly rejected fresh accusations of lack of financial transparency by utility intervenor Ricky Went, insisting it has fully met all legal and regulatory disclosure requirements for its audited accounts and rate filings.
Went, who leads a team of intervenors in the ongoing electricity rate review, has been asking the Fair Trading Commission (FTC) to order Light & Power to provide them with its audited non-consolidated financial statements for 2022 to 2024 and the 2025 half-year report, without which, he contends, they would not be able to make a proper assessment of the utility’s performance.
Went had also argued that the February 15, 2023 rate decision and order delivered by the FTC required the company to provide extensive information as part of a compliance filing, so that the company’s revenue requirement and rate base could be properly determined.
But in a robust rebuttal, the utility’s spokeswoman, Cassandra Crawford, said Light & Power had already fulfilled all of its legal disclosure obligations.
The communications adviser told Barbados TODAY: “As part of its statutory and compliance obligations, Light & Power provides the FTC with its annual audited financial accounts. These disclosures are consistent, transparent, and in full compliance with regulatory requirements.
“During the last rate case and subsequently thereafter, Light & Power has fulfilled all of its legal disclosure obligations and has ensured that the Fair Trading Commission (FTC) holds all relevant information needed for ongoing regulatory proceedings concerning Light & Power.”
Crawford also rebutted another assertion that the power company proposed a basic average increase in customer rates of 74 per cent.
She contended: “In reality, Light & Power’s application sought an 11.9 per cent increase in its revenue requirement, which would have translated into an eight per cent or approximately $12 increase in the monthly electricity bill for the typical residential customer, who consumes 250 kWh (kilowatt hours) per month.”
Barbados Light & Power Company communications adviser, Cassandra Crawford. (FP)
She also rejected Went’s suggestion that Light & Power was granted a 37 per cent interim rate increase.
Crawford said: “In its September 16, 2022 decision, the FTC approved an interim rate increase that was approximately half of what BLPC requested. For the typical residential customer, this resulted in a four per cent or $6 increase in their monthly electricity bill.”
She said the interim rates remain in effect as the FTC’s decision on Light & Power’s 2021 rate application was appealed and is being reviewed by the High Court.
“A Consent Order issued by the Supreme Court on December 11, 2023 stayed the FTC’s decisions pending the outcome of the appeal,” Crawford noted.
The power company’s communication adviser also dismissed Went’s claim that it was over-earning.
She said: “The Barbados Light & Power Company Ltd further strongly refutes the suggestion by intervenor Went in the article that Light & Power is ‘over earning’. This is a false and inflammatory narrative that is being posited by intervenor Went, which misleads our customers and the wider public about our business.
“As highlighted during the 2021 rate case, Light & Power has been earning below the approved regulatory rate of return for many years and this continues to be the case. This was the key reason Light & Power filed for a rate review in 2021.”
She insisted that as a regulated electric utility, it operates under close regulatory oversight and provides regular financial statements and reports to the FTC “in full compliance with its decisions and the laws of Barbados”.
The spokeswoman concluded that Light & Power takes seriously its responsibilities to customers, intervenors, the FTC, and to Barbados.
Crawford added: “We remain fully committed to transparency and regulatory compliance. We will continue to engage with the FTC in accordance with established procedures and provide further comment where appropriate.”
emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb
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