An Independent Senator has warned the government to have a frank and sober conversation with Barbadians about the likely cost of electricity as the country transitions to alternative energy, and the impact on poor households if power bills become unaffordable.
Senator Crystal Drakes, in her contribution to debate on the Electricity Supply Bill 2024 in the Upper House, said: “I want to highlight that there’s another element of the system that also is not being taken into consideration in terms of the cost to the end consumer.”
The economist reminded the Senate that when the 2030 agenda for the shift away from fossil fuels was pushed, consumers were given the impression that alternative energy would be cheaper.
“There needs to be a clear, frank conversation with Barbadians about the electricity costs in the next three to five years, because the economic argument around moving towards renewable energy was that we were going to save foreign exchange because we are no longer going to import the level of fossil fuels that we had in the past.
She added: “But if in the interim, fuel costs remain in the system . . . we are stuck somewhere at square one as it relates to cost.”
According to the senator, Barbadians were still paying some of the highest electricity rates in the Caribbean with only Bermuda and The Bahamas paying more.
She pointed out: “The question overall then has to be what energy system design gives us the most affordable energy – given the renewable energy targets that we have – that is reliable? . . . What is the energy design that allows us to at least optimise our ability to move towards renewables, get the price down, and still maintain a reliable grid that allows for the smooth running of Barbados?
“Because from the time you have an unstable grid, everything goes haywire. Ask the people in places like South Africa that have to do load shedding, where you have to shut down one place so that you can bring online another place . . . . We cannot manage our electricity system in that way, so there needs to be reliability.”
The economist told the Senate that to grow economically, the country required energy. However, she stressed that if Barbadians cannot afford the cost of electricity, it would lead to a rise in poverty.
“If we are building in cost that both includes fossil fuels and feed in tariffs, then we have to then look at things like subsidised rates for lower-income households – for instance, households that have more than seven persons below a certain income bracket,” Drakes said. “Those are the types of policies that we would have to start to look at so that the people at the bottom, the people who simply cannot afford – not the ones running ACs all day long, but the people who have a certain standard of living – are kept above something that is dignified in Barbados.” (IMC1)
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