Pintard: GBPA is electricity regulator
TANEKA THOMPSON Guardian Senior Reporter taneka@nasguard.com
While stressing that the opposition is against the proposed rate increase for electricity on Grand Bahama, Opposition Leader Michael Pintard yesterday disagreed with the government’s assertion that the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) is the regulator for the island’s energy sector.
Pintard said the Free National Movement (FNM) supports the Hawksbill Creek Agreement (HCA), which sets out the scope of the Grand Bahama Port Authority’s (GBPA) powers in Freeport.
“The government, if it is minded to change the Hawksbill Creek Agreement, knows the process by which it ought to go through … and we would be more than happy to sit with the government and look at potential changes that are necessary for the Hawksbill Creek Agreement,” he said.
“But the way the administration is approaching it, we are on record as saying that the approach that they are taking is a bad approach in terms of the public row, the threats and the back and forth by both of them.”
He was contacted by The Nassau Guardian to comment on the latest row between the Davis administration and the GBPA. The row was ignited last week after an announcement from the Grand Bahama Power Company (GBPC) that it had submitted an application to GBPA for a 6.3 percent increase in the base rate for electricity.
The government said the application should have been submitted to URCA, the sole regulator for electricity in the country, adding that it does not support an increase in electricity rates in Grand Bahama at this time.
The Davis administration cited the Electricity Act, 2024, which established URCA as the independent overseer for the generation, transmission, distribution and supply of electricity for the entire country.
The new electricity law was passed by Parliament in May without the support of FNM MPs.
The GBPA operates Freeport under special powers conferred by the HCA, which was signed in 1955 to establish Freeport as a free trade zone on Grand Bahama to foster economic development.
The GBPA has said the HCA defines its role as “the sole exclusive licensor and regulator for all utilities in the port area”.
With legal action underway in the Supreme Court regarding the GBPA’s rights under the HCA, Pintard said the government “sought to circumvent a court’s determination” by putting in place new electricity legislation.
Still, given the challenges residents are facing in Grand Bahama, Pintard said this is not the appropriate time to consider a rate increase.
He accused the Davis administration of playing politics over the issue.
He said the government has no moral authority to stand on when it comes to the price consumers are paying for electricity, outlining what he sees are missteps the Davis administration has taken in regards to Bahamas Power and Light (BPL), which provides power to areas of the country outside Grand Bahama.
“When we hear them talk about rate increase, they are the poster child for putting burdens on the backs of Bahamians throughout the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, and they have been derelict in their duty in providing reliability of supply evidenced by what is happening not just with frequent outages in New Providence but especially in Eleuthera,” Pintard said.
Since being elected to office in September 2021, Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis has accused the GBPA of being derelict in its duties under the HCA.
The government has also demanded the GBPA pay $357 million it says it is owed.
Pintard has previously said the government appears to be “seeking to wrestle away” privately-held assets in its handling of its grievances with GBPA.
While the FNM does not support the present configuration of leadership at the GBPA, it also does not want the central government taking over the entity because, Pintard said, “we will be in a worse position given the nature of the Davis-Cooper administration”.
He said the fight between the government and the Port Authority is damaging Grand Bahama.
“…The ongoing wrangling between central government and the Grand Bahama Port Authority, it will only erode confidence of potential investors in Grand Bahama, and there will be a wider impact because other investors who are contemplating The Bahamas will look at the way in which these exchanges are occurring and wonder whether or not their investments are safe,” he said.
But Davis has denied this.
“Let me tell you something – none of the many investors we’re working with, across a range of projects, here in Grand Bahama or on any other island, have objected, or retreated, or raised any concerns or even raised an eyebrow,” he said during a Progressive Liberal Party event on Grand Bahama on Saturday.
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