The Barbados Light and Power Company (BLPC) wants utility regulators to allow it to recover more of its fixed costs by charging consumers a fixed rate.The announcement was made on Thursday by the Manager of Regulatory Affairs Dr Adrian Carter as he testified before the Fair Trading Commission (FTC) on day 12 of a hearing for a basic electricity rate increase for customers.While being questioned by the lead attorney for the BLPC Ramon Alleyne, King’s Counsel, Dr Carter told the panel of commissioners that the proposal, if granted, would send a more accurate price signal to consumers and also engender greater equity among customers.He also provided the commission with details of how domestic customers will be protected.“We are protecting domestic service customers at a number of levels. At the first level is the allocation of total revenue requirement among the domestic customer classes. We have taken the decision not to require the full cost of service recovery from the domestic service class. We are requesting of the commission that we still afford the domestic service class some form of subsidy in terms of the allocation of revenue,” the witness stated.“At the rate design stage of the development of the rates, we also have sought permission through an application of the regulator to allow us to limit the increase in rates for about 80 per cent of our customers in the domestic service class not to exceed an eight per cent increase.
