NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The Grand Bahama Power Company’s (GBPC) parent company does not foresee the Electricity Bill 2024, which removes the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) as the power company’s regulator, having any “material impact.”
In its Q1 analysis and management discussion, Emera noted: “On May 9, 2024, the Government of The Bahamas passed the ‘Electricity Bill 2024’, subject to Royal Assent, to take effect June 1, 2024. The bill purports to remove the jurisdiction of the GBPA over GBPC and to have the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA), another Bahamian regulator, regulate GBPC. Management is assessing the implications of the legislation but does not foresee it having a material impact on Emera.”
The legislation transfers regulatory oversight authority to GB Power by designating the utility as the “approving authority” for anyone submitting a proposal to supply electricity to the public in Grand Bahama.
The bill states that decisions by such an “authority” must also be approved by URCA, which retains ultimate power to license any new electricity providers. Many observers view this as a way to circumvent the GBPA’s utilities regulatory authority in Freeport and transfer it to URCA via GB Power.
The new bill now names Bahamas Power and Light and the GBPC as the only approving authorities.
“URCA shall, at the cost of the licensee, appoint on an annual basis qualified independent third parties to conduct inspections of licensees operating in The Bahamas, including the Port area in Grand Bahama,” the bill explains.
It adds: “For the avoidance of doubt, a person requiring an approval to carry out an activity referred to in subsection (1) in the Port area shall apply for such approval to the Grand Bahama Power Company.”
The existing act, when defining the GBPC, explains that it is a company approved and licensed by the GBPA “to carry out GTDS (generation, transmission, distribution, and supply) functions in the Port area.”
The government has argued that the Electricity Act governs The Bahamas and supersedes any language in the Hawksbill Creek Agreement that might suggest the GBPA should be the regulating body for the electricity supplier for Grand Bahama.
