The chief executive of the island’s monopoly electricity company admitted on Thursday that it had no intention of returning certain financial gains to customers.The confession was made by the Managing Director of the Barbados Light and Power Company (BLPC) Roger Blackman after he was recalled to give evidence before the Fair Trading Commission (FTC) in the hearing into the company’s application for a hike in basic electricity rates.He was responding to questions from the chairman of the proceedings Dr Donley Carrington on the penultimate day of the hearing that was conducted in a hybrid format.Dr Carrington prefaced his query by recalling that in 2019, BLPC requested from the FTC certain treatment of the excess amount of money the company would have in hand because taxes due could be paid sometime in the future.That saving was made possible after the Government reduced the corporation tax from 5.5 per cent to one per cent.“In response, the FTC ordered that the company confirm the final amount of the gain that would be your deferred tax liability and hold that amount in a regulatory account and then have that amount taken into account during the rate review through an adjustment to the revenue requirement. The commission stated that this approach would be a more efficient means to return the gains to the customer,” the tribunal chair stated.
