The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Regulators are searching for consultants to conduct a "maturity audit" of Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) in a bid to assess the energy monopoly's performance and develop better regulatory oversight.

The Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA), in the tender document, said it has a duty to ensure BPL's electricity tariff rates are "reasonable, reflect efficiently incurred costs and are not inconsistent with, or in contravention of, the Electricity Act and allow an opportunity for public input".

It added: "URCA has taken the decision to perform a consultancy services for an audit of the performance and organisational maturity of the Bahamas Power & Light Company (BPL). This to establish baseline performance indicators to guide URCA oversight on how to assess its regulatory impact on price controls and tariffs, accounts separation guidelines and other regulatory matters;

"The objective is to have effective regulatory oversights of BPL that will be efficient and proportionate to their purpose, and without imposing unnecessary regulatory burden.... A performance and organisational maturity audit of BPL is best viewed as a diagnostic examination of the status quo of the organisation. The proposed audit will therefore seek to independently evaluate the company’s performance status and to establish a baseline for its performance going forward.

"A baseline study of the company’s performance will allow URCA to have effective regulatory oversights of BPL that will be efficient and proportionate to their purpose and without imposing unnecessary regulatory burden. This will include assessing BPL’s performance using financial, operational and quality of service indicators, and comparing BPL’s performance with similar utilities in the Caribbean and around the world," URCA added.

"Additionally, the consultancy is also required to conduct a two-day workshop for URCA staff on technical knowledge as it relates to the appropriate regulatory mandate based on the organisation's maturity." Setting out the background to the consultancy, URCA added: "BPL accounts for 83 percent or 535 mega watts (MW) of the total generating capacity (643 MW) on the national grid.

"The remaining 17 percent of the generating capacity is provided by one other public electricity licensed power producer and three authorised public electricity supplier licence (APESL) power producers. BPL provides power to more than 100,000 customers in New Providence and the Family Islands.

"The Corporation serves approximately 85 percent of all electricity consumers in the nation. In January 2015, The Bahamas passed a new Electricity Act simultaneously repealing the Out Islands Electric Lighting Act, the Electricity Frequency Conversion Act and the Electricity Development Act. The Electricity Act was updated to clarify the roles and responsibilities of the main actors in the sector, including the Government, the regulator, the utilities and the independent power producers."