NASSAU, BAHAMAS — More than 72,000 residential Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) customers will receive a rebate on their July 2026 electricity bills after the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) approved a negotiated settlement that returns more than $610,000 in regulatory fines directly to consumers, bringing two longstanding enforcement matters to a close.
The Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) advises the public that consequential to its investigation of major outages experienced across Bahamas Power and Light Company Limited’s (BPL) electricity supply systems during 2018 and 2019, URCA took enforcement action against BPL culminating in the issuance of Final Determinations and Orders by URCA.
The first enforcement matter arose from URCA’s investigation into the September 2018 fire at BPL’s Clifton Pier Power Station and the widespread outages that followed, as well as information requested by URCA during its investigation into load shedding experienced in New Providence during 2019. URCA found that BPL had failed to provide information required under the Electricity Act and had therefore breached its licence obligations.
The second enforcement matter related to BPL’s performance during the prolonged outages experienced across New Providence in 2019. Following a detailed investigation, URCA determined that BPL had failed to meet several key obligations under its public electricity supplier’s licence, including taking all reasonable steps to maintain its generating facilities, adequately forecasting and planning for electricity demand, providing an adequate, safe and efficient electricity supply, and taking reasonable steps to prevent and resolve unplanned interruptions to service.
In exercise of its statutory right, BPL appealed URCA’s regulatory decisions before the Utilities Appeal Tribunal. Those appeal proceedings extended the final resolution of the matters over several years. BPL has subsequently abandoned its appeals and negotiated a satisfactory settlement with URCA that now delivers a direct financial benefit to consumers, while bringing both matters to a close.
URCA accepted BPL’s proposed Customer Rebate Initiative for more than 72,000 residential customers during the July 2026 billing period. Under this initiative, eligible residential customers will have the rebate reflected as an adjustment on their next electricity bill.
The Customer Rebate Initiative resolves the two longstanding regulatory enforcement matters in which URCA had imposed fines totaling $610,240.94. Rather than requiring BPL to pay the regulatory fines directly to URCA, the parties agreed under the negotiated settlement that BPL will return the full value of the fines directly to consumers through rebates applied to residential electricity accounts.
URCA said regulatory fines are penalties imposed on BPL for breaches of its regulatory obligations and are not costs that BPL is permitted to recover through customer electricity bills. By accepting the Customer Rebate Initiative in lieu of payment of the fines, URCA said it ensured the benefit of the settlement would flow directly to consumers.
URCA will monitor the distribution of the bill adjustments to ensure BPL complies with the terms of the negotiated settlement. Consumers with billing questions are advised to first contact BPL, which has a process under its Consumer Protection Plan for such matters that is regulated by URCA.
URCA acknowledged that many customers continue to experience interruptions in BPL’s electricity supply and said it will continue to actively regulate the electricity sector and engage with BPL and other licensees to improve the quality, reliability and delivery of electricity services throughout The Bahamas. The regulator said it remains focused on protecting consumers, monitoring BPL’s compliance with its licence obligations, and taking appropriate regulatory action where standards are not met.
