One of the most vocal intervenors in the last electricity rate hearing is suggesting that the Barbados Light and Power Company’s (BLPC) controversial removal of the nearly $100 million from its Self-Insurance Fund should be referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for action.At the same time, the retired army officer and chairman of the Coalition of Concerned Cooperatives, Lieutenant Colonel Trevor Browne believes the entire rate-setting process under the Fair Trading Commission (FTC) needs to be overhauled.“A complete review of the utility rate-setting process is urgently warranted. A new Utility Regulation Board should be empanelled, and the FTC should revert to its real role of defending customers’ interests and rights, instead of being BLPC’s chief advocate,” Browne suggested.His comments were made on Thursday while responding to Wednesday’s decision of the Fair Trading Commission (FTC) on the power company’s application for an 11.9 per cent increase in its base rates for domestic service customers that is linked to a revenue requirement of 89.79 per cent.When he handed down the decision during a press conference at the FTC’s Green Hill, St Michael headquarters, chairman of the rate hearing panel Dr Donley Carrington directed the BLPC to, among other things, establish a regulatory liability account and place in it, the $99.5 million that its trustees previously removed from the fund which is used to self-insure against damage and consequential loss.
