FTC Chairman Tammy Bryan Moves Out of the Way

The following has been circulating on social media for a few weeks. It seems relevant with the press announcement Chairman of the Fair Trading Commission (FTC) Tammy Bryan has recused herself from taking further part in the Barbados Light & Power (BL&P) rate process – Blogmaster


 

As a child I liked to play those little games found in magazines called “connect the dots” and “follow the trail”. While following the trail sometimes led to a dead-end, connecting the dots often created an image one would not ordinarily see with the naked eye. Although things like magazines are passe and the world wide web is now en vogue I have kept up with my childhood passion of connecting dots and following trails. 

 

 

One day whilst doodling around on a local online newspaper the recent Barbados Light & Power application for a rate hike caught my eye, especially the various actors involved and once again my childhood passion kicked in and I started connecting dots and following trails. 

 

 

I kept hearing the name Barbados Light & Power and some name Emera used in the same breath. I wondered what it was and started my trail at the Corporate Affairs website. I discovered an Emera Inc on the external company register as being domiciled and registered in Halifax, Cananda and its mailing address locally was “suite 205-207, Dowell House, Roebuck & Palmetto Streets, Bridgetown, Barbados”. 

 

 

Of course, I googled that address where a whole set of hits came up which all identified a law firm called George Walton Payne & Co. as being located at that address. I may be wrong but Emera is probably a client of that law firm. My childhood inquisitiveness continued and of course I wanted to know who were the people in this law firm and I quickly checked the Barbados Bar Association website and names like an Andrew Vanroy Thornhill, Q.C, a Tammy Lavone Bryan and a Mr. George Walton Payne, Q.C, all came up.

 

 

That last name triggered something in my head and then I remembered why the name of that law firm sounded familiar. If I not mistaken is that not the law firm where the Attorney General Mr. Dale D. Marshall, Q.C was a managing partner? He supposed to have some flagship piece of law called Integrity in Public Life that he can’t seem to breathe life into. I didn’t see his name on the Bar Association website but I sure he still got friends in there.   

 

 

That trail led to a dead end, but still not satisfied I went back to the Corporate Affairs website and typed in Emera in various forms only to discover that there are two Emera (Caribbean) Incorporated, one listed on the Amalgamation (Domestic) Register as company 40270 and the other on the Domestic Register as company 14327. There is yet another, Emera Caribbean Holdings Limited on the International Business Company as company number 40616. All of that was gobbledy-gook to me except that one name kept cropping up. That of Andrew V. Thornhill, and I wondered if this person could possibly be Andrew Vanroy Thornhill, Q.C? I must admit that I cheated on this one and got some help from a little birdy who had access to the people database but it confirmed that they are the same person. Not only is he a partner in that fancy law firm but he is a managing partner if you please. Apparently it was he who managed that big fish of Emera buying the shares of the BL&P! Now I understand why people call the two names together. Emera owns Light & Power. My little exercise didn’t lead me anywhere though. I heard it isn’t unusual for lawyers to sit on the boards of their client companies who they represent legally. I had run into a dead-end again so I started on a new track.

 

 

I started at the website of the Fair Trading Commission because it is that government entity who is to determine the principles, rates and standards of service for places like Light & Power. Their values are supposed to include acting with integrity, fostering the respect and trust of staff and the public, and demonstrating impartiality. This FTC place is headed by a board of Commissioners under the chairmanship of a Mrs. Tammy Bryan. Something there again rang a bell, that name sounded awfully familiar. Is this Mrs. Tammy Bryan, Chairman of the FTC and the Tammy Lavone Bryan of George Walton Payne & Co. the legal firm that represents Emera one and the same person? Again, I had to cheat on this one and look at the back of the book for the answers, and again my suspicions were confirmed. Not only is she a partner together with Andrew Vanroy Thornhill Q.C, one of the Emera Directors, but is junior to him. The people work in the same place with their offices separated by a veneer thin piece of Chinese see-though paper for a wall! They probably borrow pens, papers, chit-chat about how wifey, hubby or the children doing and bounce things off each other. 

 

 

I don’t know, but would a managing partner not be senior to an ordinary partner and have a certain level of influence on them? Don’t Chairman of anything still have a certain level of influence on the other members? I know sometimes they have a deciding vote on things. 

 

 

I’m ignorant to how these things work, but I began to wonder if the law firm George Walton Payne & Co. was working for its client Emera in advising on the current application before the FTC panel for an order for a confidentiality hearing and for rate increases backdate to November last year. If this is so, would the law firm of George Walton Payne & Co. not stand to make a profit in some form or fashion from that application of its client Emera to the FTC under the chairmanship of one of its partners? This picture looking really ugly though.

 

 

Again I am ignorant to these things but does a partner in a law firm not equate to that of a director in a company even if by another name? Does a partner in a law firm not have a duty to the firm and to look out for its best interest? I would have to consult with a lawyer on that one but it makes me wonder who the missy that is Partner/Chairman/Commissioner batting for.

 

 

 

I also wonder about the FTC Commissioners, are they not “Directors” of that entity as well, even if by another name and owe a duty to that entity and as their value statement” said to act with integrity and demonstrate impartiality? I remembered years ago in a business law class somewhere that directors have a duty not to make a secret profit. I also remembered in that same class some talk about disclosure, conflict of interest and the whole nine yards. 

 

 

I must admit though that I’ve never had these two games combined into one, where following a track connected dots along the way.In the end, I seem to be no wiser in my little online follow the track and connect the dots game for what I’ve ended up with looks more like one of those things oletime things called a cesspit. It used to have in a lot of nasty worms and creepers and it looked like it was living. God forbid if you ever disturbed it and it belched. The whole place was stink for miles around.

 

 

 

I must see if any of the intervenors at the FTC, BL&P rate hearing can help me to identify what I just ended up with. In the meantime I moving on to the next game called follow the trail and find Ian Carrington.

80 thoughts on “FTC Chairman Tammy Bryan Moves Out of the Way


  1. Recusal from FTC hearing

    FAIR TRADING COMMISSION (FTC) chairman Tammy Bryan will be playing no further part in the Barbados Light & Power Company Limited’s (BL& P) rate review process.
    The attorney at law announced this in a statement yesterday in which she said the FTC’s deputy chairman, Dr Donley Carrington, “will now chair the panel hearing the application for the review of rates”.
    Bryan said that as the regulator moved towards the various hearings and conferences in the application for the review of rates by BL& P, “certain information has come to light which caused the FTC and myself to seek legal advice”.
    Recent information circulated on social media suggested there could be a direct or indirect conflict of interest in the rate review process arising from the close professional relationships of some parties involved.
    Bryan said that as part of a comprehensive due diligence process, she was advised that she had no interest in BL& P “and accordingly I am not required to provide disclosure under the Fair Trading Commission Act or at all”.
    “I am further advised that the ‘fair-minded and informed observer’ would not conclude that there is apparent bias on my part. This view has been confirmed by independent legal opinions that were sought including an opinion sought by the FTC,” she explained.
    However, the FTC chairman said that notwithstanding the legal opinions, “I have a responsibility to ensure that the public has full confidence in the work and decisions of the FTC as it discharges its duty under the law.
    “For that reason, I have taken the decision to recuse myself from further participation in the BL& P’s application for a review of rates,”
    she added. Bryan noted that the FTC “has a broad mandate to determine principles, rates and standards of service for regulated service providers”. “The FTC also monitors general business conduct, investigating possible breaches of the Acts administered by it, educating and informing businesses and consumers about the requirements of these Acts and taking enforcement action when needed,” she said.
    “The appointed Commissioners with responsibility for this important mandate are drawn from various sectors of business. It is these Commissioners who make decisions on applications, issue orders and initiate enforcement proceedings if necessary.”
    No date has been set for the substantive review of the BL& P’s electricity tariff, but the FTC is currently conducting the utility company’s application for interim rates.
    The FTC also announced last month that it would convene a confidentiality hearing to determine the BL& P’s request for confidentiality, pursuant to Rule 13 of the Utilities Regulation (Procedural) Rules.
    The company has made a request for confidentiality in respect of its proposed new operational licences, system expansion plan and fiveyear investment plan.
    (SC)


  2. Will go down to my basement and dig out my choo-choo train. It has all the bells and whistles and can even let off steam.

    Sadly, I already know that it is taking me nowhere…


  3. Bushie still trying to work this out…

    So how is it appropriate for her to step down from the Hearing, BUT CONTINUE as chairman of FTC ..where she ROUTINELY makes decisions that need to be SEEN to be unbiased?
    Also, how come she only SAW THE LIGHT after that long social media expose of her links to EMERA?
    Was she unaware of this when the minister appointed her? …or was she just hoping that no one found out?
    Was the minister unaware too? ..will he claim ignorance? …or igrunce?

    cause, over the past few days this SAME minister seems to have taken up EMERA’s fire rage…
    …talking shiite about how GREAT Emera is…. and signing agreements with them…

    ALL in the middle of a rate case, where HIS ministry is meant to be the impartial judge….
    Some shiite like it affecting these politicians yuh….


    • @Bush Tea

      Do we entertain a culture in Barbados that supports elected/appointed officials offering their resignations if conflict of interest situations surface? For many Barbadians it does not even enter their thoughts.


  4. @Bush Tea

    They have to bend over backwards for EMERA so they don’t cut the amount of solar energy they willing to accept on the grid.

    Lots of money is there to be made in this Solar push not by the homeowners installing lot of panels on their roofs but by the sellers and installers.

    In a gold rush, most of wealth is made by the ones selling shovels, pickaxes and mining tools.


  5. @Bush Tea. wha loss and you call me lukewarm … and lax of moral standards 😂🤦🏾‍♂️… but got de gall to offer half hearted condemnation of this minister who knowingly appointed a partner of the firm that REPRESENTS EMERA as FTC Chair! Looka my crosses, tho. 🤣

    In trute I thought it was you who authored dis piece wid de sweet self-effacing facetiously sarcastic tone … too sweet.

    This riposte was all BushTea 🤣: “I don’t know, but would a managing partner not be senior to an ordinary partner and have a certain level of influence on them? Don’t Chairman of anything still have a certain level of influence on the other members? I know sometimes they have a deciding vote on things.”

    Bare CORRUPTION …. and we does talk all ova we face about criminal minded youth ! Steeupse.

    This is highfaluting criminality that these elites does think too far above de comprehension of de average Bajan … so they does juck we in de eye blatantly.

    Although a law firm can have partners and associates who in fact represent OPPOSING or non-complimentary parties this is EGREGIOUSLY disturbing and in our small society should NEVER has taken place. All jokes aside this is unacceptable and people should resign in shape … but will neva happen.

    And Dale sitting on the integrity legislation … as the author suggests one wonders why!

    And BushTea you dun know that Dr. Carrington was just a few years ahead of the AG at high school … and should know him well. So who knows if he got conflict connections to de law firm too!

    Bimshire is too sweet tho! So decent and propa and as insidiously corrupt as can be!

    I gone.


  6. Oh dear! How incestuous! Didn’t she know all along who her “father” was?

    This stinks

    David,

    Yes! BEFORE you get found out, not after.


  7. Barbados is too small and close-knit to not have conflicts of interest. Focus has to be placed on integrity.

    What is required is full transparency to shed bright lights on all the government involved contracts, hearing proceedings and facilitate criminal and or civil lawsuits to quickly hold offenders accountable for corrupt practices when identified.

    Participants would have to be very brazen to continue corrupt practices when they can be easily found out and sued.


  8. Nothing to see here, why don’t you all move along didn’t the Chair say something to the effect that fair minded and informed advisors would not conclude that there is apparent bias on her part and this was confirmed by independent legal opinions. Thus it is only out of the goodness of her heart that she is stepping aside- so there. All uh wunnah just making noise because wunnah still shell shocked at 61-0 beat down that the DLP received

    Meanwhile there is another similar WhatsApp message about the large sums being paid to various public relations people to massage the image of the PM . I suppose that will make headlines in September

    Don’t stop the Crop Over


  9. Conflicts of interest often arise in instances where positions in the Public sector are filled by people previously employed in the Private sector. The issue is how such conflicts are handled when they arise, a frequent example is is that of members of the judiciary. In a small society this happens even more frequently. The proper way to handle it is to ensure transparency have an independent review to determine when recusal is needed.


  10. What we are witnessing is a strategic distribution of the ” fatted calf ”

    There is no conflict only interest.


  11. Dot Connector
    When the Caves finally published their Annual Reports because they wished to outsource management, it was revealed Dr.Carrington was a Board member, UNTIL after the 2018 election when Ralph Thorne & Co, took over, and he was replaced. He has been on the FTC since 2015.
    So even if he is related to the DoF, he appears to have been more D approved than B.


  12. Dribbler
    “This riposte was all BushTea 🤣: “I don’t know, but would a managing partner not be senior to an ordinary partner and have a certain level of influence on them? Don’t Chairman of anything still have a certain level of influence on the other members? I know sometimes they have a deciding vote on things.”
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    What about this sounds like Bushie?!! Steupsss!!!… You are hopeless….
    You EVER hear Bushie start a sentence with ‘I don’t know..?.’ …..The bushman don’t tell lies boss…
    Of course had Bushie known of these connections, then David would have been included LONG AGO.
    This is truly a lotta shiite.

    What is even worse is that Emera is KNOWN to be less than ethical….
    Are they not currently employing some former FTC senior staff who suddenly saw the wisdom of ‘working’ for Emera – instead of the FTC, and who took all their inside knowledge with them to Emera…. No doubt THAT served Bajans well…

    Bushie also recalls talk about them ‘assisting Barbados’ with electric buses when the transport Board fleet was a mess… out of the goodness of their kind hearts no doubt….
    And now we see that they had ‘agents’ planted at the highest levels in rate making….
    Shiite!!!
    We could as well put aside money for the increased rates….or to buy candles.

    One now has to wonder what ‘negotiations’ are currently secretly underway (during the current rates business), that could well result in more FTC people (or Cabinet contacts) jumping on the Emera ship in coming months & years.

    That article which was kindly researched by Hants is MOST enlightening – especially with regards to the profits these people are making off their FOREIGN investments…. REALLY ENLIGHTENING….phenomenal profits…!!!

    Perhaps there are some hard questions ALSO to be answered by the people who sold the local NIS shares in BL&P ..to pay off Four Seasons Creditors…?

    What a damned place we have created….


  13. “On the 21st day of December, 2021 the Cabinet agreed to the vesting of approximately
    8.698 hectares (21.485 acres) of land together with the buildings thereon, formerly known
    as the St. Joseph Hospital, situate at Ashton Hall in the parish of Saint Peter in this Island
    in a commercial Special Purpose Vehicle in which the Government of Barbados will hold
    25% of the shares and The University of the West Indies at Cave Hill will hold 75% of the
    shares for a joint venture between the Government and The University of the West Indies.”

    ….A special purpose vehicle (SPV) is a subsidiary company that is formed to undertake a specific business purpose or activity. SPVs are commonly utilized in certain structured finance applications, such as asset securitization, joint ventures, property deals, or to isolate parent company assets, operations, or risks. While there are many legitimate uses for establishing SPVs, they have also played a role in several financial and accounting scandals.

    The last time I heard this term in Barbados the result was Clearwater Bay Limited.


  14. On a more related matter, there is a Resolution before the Senate, whereby the BNOC will lease from GoB lands at Fairy Valley, upon which the BNOC will build a photovoltaic plant. While the resolution tells us the costs will be borne by BNOC, and after 25 years will revert to the GoB at no cost, one is left to guess who will run this operation, and how it will fit into the power matrix.


  15. Can’t stop the political/legal/accounting/economic shenanigans, but I can keep my electricity bill low, low, low. Over the last 12 months it has averaged $70.92 BDS per month, with a high of $90.62 and a low of $54.70.


  16. Dear David:

    Can you or anybody else explain in PLAIN ENGLISH what Light and Power is trying to say in their statement above? Thanks.


  17. @Cuhdear Bajan

    What they are trying to say is they did not want to spend large sums of money purchasing and installing new diesel generators to replace the old steam generators because alternative large scale renewable energy electricity generation projects were in the works that had the potential to disrupt the original diesel generators purchase plan making that large spend a bad investment if the energy produced was not utilized.

    This 2012 timeframe is probably when the renewable energy push would have been started in earnest by the government of the day with the conceptualization of the waste to energy plant (Cahill) and other large scale renewable energy projects with solar and wind.

    https://renewablesnow.com/news/cahill-energy-to-build-up-to-35-mw-waste-to-energy-plant-in-barbados-410119/


  18. This headlong rush to renewable energy is folly and the people familiar with power generation know it too.

    Renewable energy means unreliable energy while Fossil Fuel energy means reliable energy. Both have their strengths and weaknesses and the two technologies can work hand in hand only when government admits 100% renewable is unwise even if it was attainable.

    There must always be a reliable base load available 24 hours a day capable of satisfying the entire energy needs of the country otherwise the grid will overload and BL&P will be required to resort to rolling blackouts to prevent grid collapse like what happened a few years ago.

    Currently, ONLY fossil fuel or nuclear energy plants have an energy source able to satisfy 24 hour availability until we figure out how to make the sun shine or wind blow at a minimum set speed 24 hours a day.


    • @CA

      Has the technology not improved to blur separation of intermittent and fossil bases energy by planners?


  19. @CA
    Good assessment… BUT
    .. the important point in the BL&P statement is in what they DO NOT say.

    Mainly, what the hell happened to all the EXTRA money that they would have collected over the years that would have been leveled on CUSTOMERS (to pay for these pieces of equipment that NEVER materialized.)

    Seems OBVIOUS to Bushie that if there was a change in plan, THEN there should have been a REVIEW of the damn rates given, so that customers would not be paying for GHOST equipment.
    So perhaps you can suggest why the FTC did not insist on a downward REVIEW of rates after BL&P changed their minds…..
    …besides the otherwise OBVIOUS fact that Bajans are bowls into which ANY jobby can be thrown.


    • @BT

      We t seems from BL&P language it continues to provision in their plans energy promised from a Cahill project? The blogmaster is willing to be corrected.


  20. @Bush Tea

    A good question and BL&P will probably answer it with it was mostly used with additional expenses to keep the turbines operational since they were not replaced and some was put into their solar farm project to reduce the pass on to customer cost they asked for with that project.

    The fault is with the FTC for not following up and calling BL&P back to FTC to gave an account in 2012/2013 on the status of those funds collected.


    • @CA

      The ethical thing for BL&P to have done if there was a change in use of revenue stream based on FTC approval was to write to FTC for adjusted approval.


  21. LOL @ CA
    “ BL&P will probably answer it with it was mostly used with additional expenses “
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    They probably will…. but ONLY in Brassbados would they dare to come with such nonsense.

    This would mean that THEY have assumed the role of ‘regulator’ in deciding how rates are to be applied.
    If they were to say something like THAT in a serious jurisdiction where the Regulator was independent and professional, it would be cat piss and pepper.
    In Brassbados…not so much.


  22. @ David
    “The ethical thing for BL&P to have done…”
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    BL&P would most likely have done exactly that….
    But after wunna SOLD out BL&P to Emera, what BL&P ‘would have done’ has become moot…

    Look again at Hants’ article about Emera’s recent meeting report and ask yourself what EMERA would do with millions of ‘bonus’ $$ from a bunch of BBs who are as easy to rob as babies with candy…


  23. @David May 27, 2022 8:20 AM

    All technology has done is reduced the cost and increased the efficiency of solar panels but unless energy storage systems e.g. battery capacity vastly increases to where several days worth of energy can be stored cheaply by BL&P, the best renewables can do is reduce the amount of fuel the fossil fuel generators use to generate electricity on sunny days. But the fossil fuel generator needs to be able to ramp up quickly.


  24. When you’re beaten so badly twice, you work hard to discredit the government. The lady recused herself. But wunna feel there are no more connections given our size? Anyhow, the connector needed not try to give the impression something was hidden. On GWP & co website:
    “Andrew was Barbados counsel to Emera (Barbados) Holdings No. 2 Ltd. (“EBH2”) and Emera Inc. for the 2015-2016 acquisition by EBH2 of Emera (Caribbean) Incorporated.
    He was also Barbados counsel to AmBev S.A. and SLU Beverages Ltd. (“SLU”) for the 2015-2016 acquisition by SLU of Banks Holdings Limited, the sole beer and malt producer on the island of Barbados.”
    Y’all live fuh commess eh.🤣🤣


    • @enuff

      What is the point you are making? Bryan shouldn’t have recused herself as chair?


  25. @Bush Tea May 27, 2022 7:36 AM “…what the hell happened to all the EXTRA money that they would have collected over the years that would have been leveled on CUSTOMERS (to pay for these pieces of equipment that NEVER materialized.”

    Thanks Bushie.

    Does that mean that I can ask back for my money then?

    When I was a little girl and ma sent me to the shop for an ounce of butter and a gill of lard-oil and a 1/4 lb of salt fish; if the shop keeper did not have one or more of the items I had to give ma the money not spent on the items the shopkeeper didn’t have.

    Has accounting/moral standards changed since 1960 then?


  26. @Critical Analyzer May 27, 2022 7:50 AM “…it was mostly used with additional expenses to keep the turbines operational since they were not replaced and some was put into their solar farm project to reduce the pass on to customer cost they asked for with that project.”

    My response: But shouldn’t money be used for the purpose for which it was requested. If I go to the bank to borrow $200,000 to upgrade my home, is it ok then to use the $200,000 to buy a fancy new car for my boyfriend?

    @Critical Analyzer May 27, 2022 7:50 AM “…the status of those funds collected…”

    You telling me then that the funds are in the company’s account, instead of my share being in my account. Man! it my only be a couple hundred dollars but for we old age pensioners every cent counts. With $200 I can pay my light bill for about 3 months.

    If I decide then to NOT pay my light bill for 3 months would anybody think that I un-fairing the power company?

    Does the company have about 80,000 residential customers?

    My math int too good, but when I multiplied $200 X 80,000 I am getting $16 million

    $16 million is a good peica change.


  27. @Sargeant May 27, 2022 9:07 AM “What about the Integrity legislation?”

    Sarge boy, integrity can’t be legislated. Either your parents teach you to have a conscience/have integrity by about age 4 or it cannot be learned. Seems like a lotta, lotta parents fell down on the job.

    Lawyers/legislators can’t fix parental FAILINGS.


    • integrity legislation is not intended to legislate integrity in its generic definition. Instead it regulates a framework of agreed standards of conduct and enforce penalties if not met.


  28. @Bush Tea May 27, 2022 9:50 AM “…BBs who are as easy to rob as babies with candy…”

    I don’t know when last you tried to take something from a baby, or worse still from a toddler, but my experience is that they scream and holler and hold on tighter and tighter, and if they have working legs, then they hold tight to their stuff AND run away. L’il children have not yet LEARNED to be Brassbowls.


  29. @Enuff

    You just can’t help yourself, the carefully manicured image of the Chair fell apart under the disinfecting sunshine of social media. Despite the fulsome explanation of how she passed all legal hurdles she still recused herself which is for the better. I think the FTC dodged a bullet, imagine the stench if her connections was exposed after a decision favoring Emera.


  30. @ Cutdear
    “ L’il children have not yet LEARNED to be Brassbowls”
    ~~~~~~~~~~
    Bushie stands corrected and do apologize to our l’ll children.
    You are indeed correct, even babies would not allow themselves to be treated so.

    @Enuff
    Since they send you out to face the bowling, …and since you have all the background info,
    …can you tell us what has been the delay in holding the rate case?
    Shiite man!! this thing started LAST YEAR and the company had said that if they don’t get some money soon, some trouble would result….
    You can tell us what going on…?
    It looking like wunna driving with L’s yuh.


  31. Bushie
    Who sends me? Boss I mek muh little short posts on BU from muh phone when bored, looking for comedy and feel like stirring up BU’s nest of sugar ants. I don’t post propaganda, the emotive, conspiracies or tales, strictly facts.


  32. Enuff
    Boss I mek muh little short posts on BU from muh phone when bored,
    ~~~~~~~~~~
    Noted…and do forgive the bushman for probing,
    But you gotta realize that you are the only source of occasional info that seems credible (even if highly massaged 🙂 )
    So ask a question for we, and let we know wuh gwine on wid de case.

    BTW
    The ‘right thing’ would have been to decline the offer to chair the FTC in the first damn place… unless of course it was a deliberate ‘plant’….You must know that you should not be in “church and chapel”


  33. C.A is totally on point. All that was stated when we had the day’s long power failure a few years ago. The Cahill shite and the 100 % renewable energy policy made the new equipment a bad investment.

    Fair enough, but wuh yuh do wid de rate increase money specifically granted for the purchase of de equipment? Cuhdear Bajan is quite reasonably asking for a refund.

    Or, as BT opined, they should have returned to the FTC if other expenses incurred due to the cancelled upgrade needed to be covered.

    C.A may very well have a point about the 100% policy. Storage would have to be pretty good for that to be feasible.

    Good discussion!

    One thing though, did not the BWA significantly raise rates to replace 100 year old pipes and build an administrative headquarters instead?

    And did we not suffer terribly the effects of leaky and burst mains causing dripping and dry taps across the island?

    Emera probably took notes from our government.

    Just as they are taking note of government erroneously classifying lowly workers as having contracts FOR services instead of contracts OF service, thereby relieving itself of obligations and leaving poor workers vulnerable and not covered by National Insurance?

    In some cases, workers were sent home without cause, no written record of complaint about their “services” and were not eligible for benefits nor were they paid out for the balance of their contracts as would be required if “dismissed” without cause.

    So…. Government cannot expect the private sector to do any better. Government is supposed to be of the people and by the people and for the people. Businesses are primarily for their owners.

    The problem is that we have too many problems to keep track of. We are not brass bowls. We are simply overwhelmed.

    “Too much hard chunes! Cyan play all!” says the DJ.

    I don’t think we have learnt how to pick our battles and fight them until we’ve won. In nine days, it’s on to the next one.


    • The question to be answered by the FTC is – did BL&P write to the FTC on its adjusted position re: steam generators.


  34. ‘Energy Ponzi scheme’ warning

    Engineers are warning authorities to avoid an energy Ponzi scheme.
    In a statement issued yesterday, the Barbados Association of Professional Engineers (BAPE) said it has been trying to caution that while the Barbados National Energy Policy (BNEP) is a brilliant vision, there is a wide gap between it and reality.
    It now had, the association said, the “unfortunate responsibility” to advise that unless urgent and fundamental changes are made to the Barbados sustainable energy transformation, “the brilliant vision of converting Barbados to 100 per cent sustainable energy by 2030 is doomed”.
    BAPE said that one of the most excellent energy initiatives ever expounded was the concept of “wasteto energy”, using technology to convert solid waste into a valuable energy source to replace the imported burdensome fossil fuels.
    “It is difficult to conceive of a more worthwhile concept than this, that could take two major negatives and create a huge positive for the country. We all know how that ‘great’ vision ended. The concept of building a ‘Four Seasons’ resort on what was literally and figuratively ‘Paradise’ also represents a brilliant win-win vision with everything going for it. That too, ended up in disarray,” the association pointed out.
    The engineers explained that implementing policies was incredibly complicated requiring deep understanding of all the underlying sciences and enough experience and technical depth to compensate for the multiple pitfalls and barriers in major infrastructural undertaking.
    “. . . There are those who make their profits upfront, like lenders and equipment suppliers, unlike those investors who are in it for the long-term. The current Feed-In-Tariff (FIT) arrangement for solar energy is an excellent case in point. Up front, investors stand to make impressive returns on their investments. However, it is clearly obvious that this is not a sustainable arrangement, since as more and more persons invest in these
    systems, the utility will be collecting less and less revenue, while having to pay out greater and greater FIT returns to these investors,” BAPE said.
    Only income
    Eventually the only income will be from those without PV systems and least able to pay increased rates and the scheme will collapse.
    “Carried to its ultimate logical conclusion, when all Barbadians have installed PV systems on their roofs, and are paying minimum bills, and awaiting returns from their FIT contracts, the utility will be required to create money ‘from nothing’ to pay these investors, as well as to cover their own operating expenses. Obviously, investors will lose the income needed to repay their investment loans….and perhaps even lose their loan security, such as their mortgaged homes,” BAPE predicted.
    It said a similar situation occurred in Spain between 2007 and 2022 when its energy ‘Ponzi scheme’ collapsed leading the government to impose a ‘Sun Tax’ on every solar panel installed.
    “This tax had to be so draconian, that many investors simply removed their systems just to avoid the tax. Many went bankrupt. . . At present, the Barbados’ energy trajectory is exactly like that followed by Spain. . .. Those who can afford to, and even some who can’t, are jumping headlong into the ‘vision’ without any clear plan of what the final result will look like.
    “This is a dangerous error. The Barbados Association of Professional Engineers is therefore calling upon those with the awesome responsibility for bringing this transformational initiative to reality, to set out urgently and clearly for all players and end-users alike, the plan and the process by which the Barbados National Energy Policy will be actualised, clearly identifying the various steps and attributed milestones to be achieved along the way. Energy is much too critical to every sector of Barbados, to be allowed to fail for lack of professional planning,” the engineers stated.
    (PR/AC)

    Source: Nation


  35. @ David
    “The question to be answered by the FTC is – did BL&P write to the FTC on its adjusted position re: steam generators.”
    ~~~~~~~~~~~
    and..
    If NOT, did the FTC then write to BL&P about the URGENT NEED for an adjusted position…?

    And how does this all fit in with the ‘secret’ plan that the engineers are now calling to be made public?


    • @Bush Tea

      We are on the same page.

      The reason the article was posted highlighting concern about oil agreements in Guyana is that governance issues are always a challenge this part of the world where governments is concerned.


    • @CA

      If you search BU Archives you should be able to retrieve discussions past around Economic Hitman.


  36. That is why I hesitated to put those solar panels on my roof. I could not figure out how the electric company was going to make its money. I thought I was missing something.

    Anyway, I probably will put the few solar panels on my roof anyway. With such a small “investment” I will probably not lose out.

    Hopefully the flaws in reasoning will be sorted out and a new plan will be made.


  37. @Donna
    The electric company will always come out ahead between the EV car push, overall energy feed-in limits and renewable rates paid.

    Once they reach the feed-in subscriber limit, they will stop paying new customers for net excess energy as already happens in some countries.

    The BL&P should have been first split in two, a power distribution company and a power generation company by the government before this renewable energy policy push. The distribution company purchases power from various PV, Wind and Fuel generators at the same fixed rates, sells to customers and maintains distribution infrastructure.


  38. C.A,

    I will read again when my brain is not tired. Maybe you have filled in what I thought was missing.


  39. This is not that difficult to understand….
    Think of a toy train with bells and whistles and the capacity to make steam. Think of the BU crowd full of hot air.

    Come back later and hope see that the toy passenger train is still working. Hot air still blowing.

    Oh heck.. I just had an idea… What about windmills.. with our supply of hot air ….

    NTSH

    I could have just said “Unable to contribute”


  40. Come back later and see that the toy passenger train is still working. Hot air is still blowing.


  41. LOL @ David
    A little bird just suggested to the bushman that perhaps she may have been ‘reclused’ because she refused to ‘go with Emera’…

    Of course, in a NORMAL country something like this would be transparent, since this person is meant to be a DEFENDER OF THE PUBLIC INTEREST.

    So how does she just disappear just like that…?
    How do we know that she wasn’t standing on principle…and lost?
    You done know that Bushie gotta suspicious mind too….

    But what would this shiite place do without BU though…?


    • @Bush Tea

      Didn’t Ronald Toppin jump ship all those years ago and to this day not an explanation given to taxpayers?


    • @Bush Tea

      Admit it, which modern day politician and leadership elsewhere have the balls to swim against the tide? We are a people quickly turned off by big bang interventions. The blogmaster has tested it many times in this space. We are disinterested about the issues that really matter read governance unless it is tinged with salaciousness.


  42. Admit it, which modern day politician and leadership elsewhere have the balls to swim against the tide?
    ~~~~~~~~~
    Agreed!
    Actually most don’t even come with the FACILITY for balls…
    Far less to be swimming Upstream…

    All kinds of ‘radical’ shiite can get by us, as a result.


  43. New regulatory compact needed

    DISRUPTIVE ELEMENTS are creating unprecedented changes in the electric industry. Expansion of distributed energy resources (DERs), demands for decarbonisation, the need for greater grid resiliency and reliability, and the advent of digitalisation are major drivers of these changes.
    Locally, Barbados Light & Power (BL& P) is responding to these developments with programmes aimed at grid modernisation and a clean-energy transition. Policymakers, on the other hand, are planning a major market restructuring that will split the vertically integrated industry into five new market segments. These include generation, energy storage, wires, grid management and sales.
    While these stakeholders’ actions are all timely and necessary, they do not go far enough. One central component that is missing from their broader plans is the reform of the current utility business and regulatory model.
    A business model is essentially a revenue logic that delivers value to customers, encourages customers to pay for that value, and converts payments into profits. Utility tariffs and business models are mutually interdependent. The monopoly model of our power grid has been eroded by DERs and yet the cost structure and regulatory principles that underpin it still remain. No doubt, this situation will limit its ability to serve the needs, expectations and aligned interests of the utility and its customers alike.
    The current model is a cost-based and backwards-looking approach that focuses on pricing inputs rather than outputs. It incentivises capital expenditure (CAPEX) and throughput of energy rather than conservation and energy efficiency.
    These attributes, unfortunately, give rise to features of regulatory lag and information asymmetry that present difficulties for regulatory prudence and timely cost-recovery – difficulties that are exacerbated in the present environment of capitalexpansion and declining load-growth.
    The task of maintaining financial viability under these circumstances will be a significant challenge for BL& P, especially as it embarks on its clean-energy
    transition. It will require a new regulatory compact, one that departs significantly from the costplus mechanisms of cost-trackers that the utility currently favours.
    These tariffs, an addition to the 11.9 per cent requested rate increase, are designed to effect the timely recovery of the revenue-requirement deficit brought about by the cleanenergy expansion programme.
    However, while these mechanisms may be initially beneficial to the utility, they will place a significant and unbearable financial burden on ratepayers and ultimately create sustainability issues going forward.
    The financial climate does not portend favourably for utility or stakeholders and this may affect pending capital investment. This will ultimately drive the need for a different regulatory approach. In recent times, utilities facing similar circumstances have been turning to performance-based regulation (or PBR) coupled to multi-year plans as an alternative to cost-of-service regulation.
    Much of the excitement for implementing this new business and regulatory model comes from the experience and successes of the United Kingdom. Regulators there introduced this framework, which incentivises the utility to adopt a different approach to earning revenue, one that is tied to the achievement of performance metrics, delivery of outputs and innovation, and which decouples revenues from CAPEX.
    This is the direction that many regulators and utilities are heading in today as a result of flatter demand, stricter emission regulations, and greater cost competition from DERs. The island grids of Jamaica and Hawaii have already made the regulatory transformation with some success, and it is time that we follow suit.

    – TONY “KITE” GIBBS

    Source: Nation


  44. FTC step in right direction

    The news that the Fair Trading Commission (FTC) is looking again at the compensatory aspects of utility regulation is a reminder of the value of the service to the public, which is rendered by these companies which use their private capital and devote it to the wider purpose.
    Such services are always useful to the public and the economy. As such, the older commentators used to speak of the private property used and useful in the public service.
    They drew the distinction between “used”, on the one hand, and “useful”, on the other hand, to justify utility companies keeping a reasonable quantity of spare parts or other standby equipment to be pressed into service in the case of breakdown of critical equipment.
    Reliability and quality of service are therefore inevitable standards to be met by properly operating utility companies. In return for these almost monopoly companies in most cases, if not outright monopolies themselves, the companies are permitted the chance to charge rates that will allow them to make a reasonable profit and not gouge the public who cannot do without such services.
    Hence we are happy to note that the FTC, in addition to laying down the relevant established indicators of quality and reliability of service, is prepared to add teeth to the regulations by ordering compensation for relevant breaches of standards.
    It is also prepared to deal with the matter of reconnection of service in a timely manner once that service, for one reason or another, has been severed. It is a step in the right direction to keep utility companies on their toes.
    Unfortunately, hedging arrangements proposed by the Barbados Light
    & Power (BL& P) did not come to fruition.
    We accept that hedging is not a simple matter and that the FTC had a responsibility not only to examine the broad parameters of the application but also to examine the equitable nature of the scheme given that BL& P is a regulated entity.
    It was wise for the company to seek hedging so as to lock itself into a fixed forward price in a volatile market in which oil and fuel prices appeared headed for the roof.
    It would have enured to public benefit if a locked in lower price had been secured. For fossil-based fuel has now become a seller’s market with the advent of war in Ukraine.
    As it is, the public outcry at the passthrough price of fuel under the fuel clause aspect of monthly power bills, though noticeable and perhaps justifiable, is due in very large part to the external events for which neither the supplier of power nor the consumers of power are blameworthy.
    What can be locally controlled is the efficiency of the local operations not only at the operational level but also in reconnecting interrupted services however caused within the shortest possible time frame.
    It is for these reasons that we draw public attention to the need for reasonable, but cogent critical analysis, by objectors and intervenors of the current application for a rate increase by the BL& P.
    Given current conditions, the BL& P has a heavy public duty to show that it is operating as efficiently and as economically possible and holding rates to a minimum necessary to deliver proper service.

    Source: Nation (Editorial)


  45. Tough task ahead for FTC, says energy expert
    The Fair Trading Commission (FTC) panel hearing an application for higher electricity rates will face a difficult task trying to balance the Barbados Light & Power Company Limited’s (BL& P) financial requirements with fairness for consumers.
    That is the view of Bruce Chapman, vice-president of United States company Christensen Associates Energy Consulting.
    Chapman, who participated in BL& P’s 2009 rate application assisting in preparing the cost of service study and the rate design among other tasks, was speaking Wednesday evening during a BL& P online briefing on the electricity ratemaking process. “Rate design is all about a bunch of things that can’t all be satisfied and you will see that in regulatory proceedings. I think the important thing here is what rate design faces, and the two keywords are balancing objectives, and the main thing, there are many conflicting objectives in rate-making,” he said.
    He added that utility companies needed to fully recover their costs, including the return on investment, or they could face bankruptcy.
    “If you don’t recover return on investment the utility can’t borrow. You have to be fair in allocating costs across classes. Everybody has to have a perception that they are not being stiffed,” he explained.
    “You need to keep rate structure simple. You can have a more complicated rate structure but there better be benefits for complicating rates. You
    want to avoid cross subsidy – we don’t want the residential customers paying the business class expenses.”
    Chapman added: “We would like it to be the case that customers are being treated fairly, and additionally we would like to protect customers with each new rate application. It’s not going to seem fair to customers if the utility submits a rate increase of, say, seven per cent or something like that, but some customers in that rate application have rate increases of 50 per cent.
    “That’s going to produce real pain for those customers and maybe a blowback both for the utility and for the regulator. The customers are going to say, ‘How could you allow this?’.”
    Kim Griffith-Tang How, director of customer solutions and regulatory lead for BL& P, told the session that the rate-making process was a combination of science, art and common sense with the objective of fairness for the utility and customers.
    “In other words, it’s not one or the other and so at the end of the day, the regulator really having had all of the information available to them and looking at other factors as well that may socially drive their decision, they at the end of the day will have to make that decision,” she said.
    “But it really comes down to a balance, what customers can bear, but really what the utility needs to survive and serve those very customers. I think that’s really what it comes down to.” (SC)


    Source: Nation


  46. BLPC confidentiality hearing delayed

    Article by Emmanuel Joseph
    Published on
    June 14, 2022

    https://barbadostoday.bb/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/20220530_-Marsha-Atherley-Ikechi-1-730×456.jpg

    The confidentiality hearing on an application from the Barbados Light and Power Company (BLPC) to keep certain information from the public has been suspended.

    The matter, which was scheduled to be heard last Wednesday by the Fair Trading Commission (FTC) leading up to the hearing for an interim rate increase, has now been placed on hold for possibly another two weeks.

    “The confidentiality hearing was suspended due to an objection from an intervenor, and we are in the process of dealing with that matter before we can proceed,” Chief Executive Officer of the FTC Marsha Atherley-Ikechi revealed to Barbados TODAY on Monday. “It has been adjourned until we get back to that, which should be, I would say, before month-end,” she added.

    During an interview last Tuesday, the FTC’s chief executive said that the commission had initiated the confidentiality hearing about two or three weeks before, but it had to be postponed because of an “intervening matter”.

    “That matter was considered and now we are moving ahead with the confidentiality hearing for the general rate application,” she explained last week.

    In its application, the BLPC is asking the FTC to exclude certain “confidential” information from being made known to the public during the rate hearing.

    Meanwhile, the date for the main rate hearing is still known. Confirmation of a date will depend on separate decisions on the confidentiality and interim rate increase applications. Back in April, the FTC said it had approved eight intervenors who will be challenging the BLPC’s proposed basic rate increase. It said then that the hearings would start mid-May.

    In its application filed in September 2021, the electricity company told the FTC it was critical for the viability of BLP that interim rate relief at the proposed rates be allowed by November 1, 2021, until a final decision was made on the main request. The country’s sole power company has contended that it would be unable to fund its planned investments to meet customer needs if it does not get the interim hike.

    The company is seeking increases ranging from $2 to $6 more per month for domestic customers and between $4 and $10 more for general service users.

    If the increases are approved, the energy bill for large power customers would move from $1,287.00 per month for each service to $1,587 per month and secondary voltage customers’ rate would move from $149 to $169 per month.
    emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb


  47. @ David, you said on May 31…
    “The blogmaster has tested it many times in this space. We are disinterested about the issues that really matter read governance unless it is tinged with salaciousness.”
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Boss!! ….Do you STILL not grasp the concept of brass bowls?
    These are empty vessels , very similar to ‘topsies’ or ‘poes’, that are most famed for making lots of ‘noise’ – but mostly shiite noise such as is associated with crap-over.
    They ARE attracted to ‘salaciousness’ indeed, …like gossip, pulling other BBs down, and generally to things that smell.

    Brass Bowls have NO interest in issues that abuse or debase them. Their mindsets are such that this is ‘par for the course’, and that it represents what they deserve. We are much too busy worrying about if ‘bumper-jamming’ will be allowed next month at crap-over by the Covid police, to waste time on checking into who is robbing us.

    So EXACTLY what kind of inputs are you expecting from this revelation above, that some shiite FISHY is going on with this EMERA situation? …and with this ploy to squeeze another $50 million dollars or so per year out of the brass bowls?
    …. to line Canadian pockets such as Hants’ and Northern’s.

    The only comments that Bushie expect are another video from Hants featuring one of his women; a brief comment from NO about the great investment he has in EMERA; and a joke from Lawson about how easy it is to take candy from Brass Bowls,,,

    Now if you had posted an article about a new song by Popsicle…..


    • @Bush Tea

      It is interesting the FTC announced the meeting before canvassing intervenors to preempt any embarrassing clawback? Maybe the blogmaster is ignorant about standard procedure in these matters.

      On your other point: our educated people complain and moan about high prices and related BUT are reluctant to get involved in the process by educating themselves, immersing themselves in the process etc that ultimately will determine outcomes for them read end consumer.


  48. @ David
    Your last paragraph is an oxymoron.
    …unless of course you substitute ‘educated people’ with ‘brass bowls’… or at least put it in inverted commas.

    IF we had truly educated people available, then we would be WELL on top of situations such as this colossal joke being paraded as a rate case.
    Do you see now why Bushie is forced to persist with the brass bowl talk…?


  49. BL&P gearing up for August face-off

    Intervenors out to stop company from getting rate hike
    By Shawn Cumberbatch
    shawncumberbatch@
    nationnews.com
    Barbados Light & Power Company Limited (BL& P) is about to face off against intervenors intent on stopping its quest for an electricity rate increase.
    The Fair Trading Commission (FTC), which is currently adjudicating an application for an interim tariff hike, has set August 25 as the start date of the public hearing for the substantive application.
    That date is more than ten months after BL& P applied for the rate increase, with sources involved in the process saying the hearing is scheduled to run for 12 business days.
    While BL& P continues to defend the application for its first rate hike since 2010, a group of eight FTC-approved intervenors is pushing back against the effort, including the interim rate.
    As proposed in the BL& P application, Barbadian households would pay increases ranging from 33 per cent to 43 per cent, in addition to a base energy charge increase of between 12 per cent and 25 per cent. This equates to a $46.5 million increase in revenue for the company.
    Customers’ needs
    BL& P says if it does not seek a rate adjustment at this time, it would be “without the financial resources to continue to adequately maintain its plant equipment and continue to invest in initiatives to meet customers’ needs; be unable to align with Government’s goal of 100 per cent renewable energy by 2030; [and] eventually, we will be unable to borrow money to fund its projects and operations under reasonable conditions”.
    “To achieve 100 per cent renewable energy by 2030 Light & Power, like many other investors, will need to make significant capital investments. In order to execute its capital investment plans, Light & Power, like other investors, will be required to borrow the funds needed to invest in costly, long-lived assets,” it said in its most recent statement explaining the need for a rate increase.
    “Without an increase in rates, Light & Power would be unable to fund planned investments to meet customer requirements; facilitate other players and new entrants in the electricity sector; and generally meet the BNEP objectives and other regulatory requirements.”
    August hearings
    However, intervenors are gearing up to oppose the increase when the public hearings begin next month.
    Those opposing the rate application are the Barbados Renewable Energy Association; Government’s Energy and Small Business and Entrepreneurship Divisions, Ministry of Energy and Business Development; Dr Roland Clarke; Ricky Went; The Barbados Sustainable Energy Cooperative Society Ltd; Tricia Watson; and the Barbados Association of Retired Persons.
    Intervenor representatives said the group had all filed several affidavits, interrogatories and letters with the FTC, most of which focus on the commercial aspects related to the BL& P application, while others raised legal and regulatory concerns.
    An official explained that the process had taken some time to get to a public hearing date because of several necessary steps, including a decision on depreciation, which had an impact on the revenue requirements, and the June 29 confidentially hearing to determine whether the company’s five-year system expansion plans, fiveyear investment plans and new licences should be made public or be only available to the FTC and/or intervenors.
    75-page affidavit Following its original 1 300-page application, BL& P filed another 75-page affidavit to further support its claim. In that document, BL& P, in making reference to its 2021 non-consolidated financial statements, contended among other things that “there was a significant deterioration in the earnings and cash flow of the company” as it showed a net profit of $24.6 million in 2021 compared to $28.7 million in 2020.
    In their written responses to the FTC, the intervenors observed that the company paid $25 million in dividends in 2021. Went argued in sworn affidavits to the FTC that while BL& P did not pay any dividends when its net profit was $28.7 million, “it paid $55 million in dividends in 2019 (net profit of $53.4 million) or 458 per cent more than the $12 million it paid out in 2018 (net profit of $69.4 million).
    Apart from its dividend policy, Went pointed out that all of the company’s revenue categories increased in 2021 apart from street lights, which declined from $4.8 million to $4.5 million.
    Regarding the company’s operating costs, he also noted that after the unprecedented events of 2020, not only were BL& P expenses in 2021 almost $7 million more than 2020, but they exceeded the incremental revenue of $3.6 million.
    Went said that BL& P should not be granted an interim rate increase, adding that it would be a major burden for consumers already paying higher electricity bills.

    Source: Nation


  50. From my (Tracia Watson) FB post today:

    Dear Bajans

    You’ve probably read the Sunday Sun article about the electricity rate review case by now. I am the Tricia Watson named in the article as an intervenor.

    I am here again to tell you some truths:

    1. The Barbados Light and Power, the island’s monopoly electricity utility, is asking the FTC to give it an immediate retroactive rate increase because according to them, they are ‘in dire straits’.

    2. In 2022 (that’s right, just a few months ago) knowing that they are ‘in dire straits’ (because that’s what they said when they filed their application in September 2021 and that’s what they are still saying to the FTC and to Barbadians), that same Barbados Light and Power DECLARED AND PAID OUT DIVIDENDS TO ITS SHAREHOLDERS OF $25 MILLION – that is more than their net income according to their own financial statements.

    3. That same BL&P is telling the FTC that Bajans must pay higher rates RIGHT NOW, even before they provide full information to intervenors, and before a thorough public rate hearing is held, and before they justify a rate increase.

    4. That same Barbados Light and Power still hasn’t said what it did with the hundreds of millions of dollars that it earned on the promise of buying new generation equipment THAT IT NEVER BOUGHT, a decision that is costing Barbados’ electricity consumers today in unbearable fuel clause adjustment charges.

    That decision not to replace old obsolete inefficient generation plant with new high efficiency generation plant, was deemed to be “reasonable” by the FTC in a decision published on March 25 2022. BL&P’s decision is currently costing us the rate payers millions of dollars in fuel clause adjustment charges, and has cost us hundreds of millions of dollars in fuel clause adjustment charges over the last 12 years.

    Since the FTC’s decision was published, the BL&P is repeatedly using the FTC’s statement to try to excuse not buying that new generation plant as it said it would in the 2009 rate case. By the way, the BL&P is now asking for $130+ Million for new high efficiency generation plant of the same kind as the plant they said in 2009 they would buy. Today, instead of just referring to the plant as the medium speed diesels as they did in 2009, they are calling it “The Clean Energy Bridge”. A rose by any other name.

    5. I am working hard to make sure that Barbados’ consumers are properly represented in this application. And I will continue to inform and educate you during this rate case.

    6. I will not give you the platitude “Rest assured”. This is serious business.

    Stay vigilant. Share.


  51. The Barbados Light & Power Company Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Emera Caribbean and currently the sole electricity utility provider in the country of Barbados.

    Emera Caribbean


  52. https://barbadostoday.bb/2022/10/21/ftc-process-continue/

    Let me assure that the length of time a process takes to complete is no indication of the thoroughness of the process. Without suitable metrics we cannot reasonably say the process took too long or was too short or was thorough?

    This has been a long time to complete this task and we can attribute some of this to fear of Covid-19, but were there unnecessary delays or gaps that could have moved this process forward more quickly? We have not looked at that data.

    I wish to add that given the temporary increase and the constant positive comments of a minister on the the behavior of the BL&P, the public is aware that an increase will be granted. I expect that it will be in the vicinity of a 9% increase.

    When it happens, please be aware it was not because I had inside knowledge or a package fell of a truck,> t was merely a full understanding of the political posturing and the games people play that gave me full insight into the shenanigans.

Leave a comment, join the discussion.