‘$11.04 more for light’
Nation News (Barbados)
Intervenor Roosevelt “Ty” King (left) listening closely to a comment being made by Barbados Light & Power Company Limited’s chief marketing officer Stephen Worme. (Pictures by Nigel Browne.)
by WADE GIBBONS
IF Barbados Light & Power Company Limited (BL&P) gets its way, some residential power users could be seeing $11.04 added to their monthly electricity bills.
This was revealed yesterday by BL&P’s chief marketing officer Stephen Worme, while being cross-examined by intervenor and consumer activist Malcolm Gibbs-Taitt at the rate review hearing before the Fair Trading Commission at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.
Worme indicated that just over 90 per cent of BL&P’s residential customers used less than 500 kilowatt hours. He explained that at this cut-off point the increase would range between $3.45 at the lowest level and $11.04. He also noted that about 16 000 customers used less than 100 kilowatts.
“We have tried to minimise the impact overall. We have provided options to those customers and we have encouraged them in several different ways to conserve to mitigate that impact. While there will be a challenge for some customers we feel that if they carry out the right approach it will be manageable,” Worme said.
He noted that for those who found it unmanageable, there would be “opportunities other than through electricity”. Worme said there were social systems in place to “address the really affected people”, but quickly added he was not suggesting they needed to turn to them.
He said BL&P had engaged in several discussions and he felt confident that the new rate base was in the best interest of everyone. He added discretion in usage and making use of the discount payment incentive could cushion the impact of rate hikes.
Intervenor Chris Halsall suggested to Worme that BL&P forego the $3.45 charge to the 16 000 consumers using up to 100 kWh per month, since they would be those most affected by any rate increase and doing so would only amount to $576 000 annually.
Halsall juxtaposed this with BL&P foregoing over $1.67 million of potential revenue from Cable & Wireless and TeleBarbados in pole rentals.
The BL&P is seeking to have its rate base increased from 6.07 per cent to 10.48 to facilitate earning an additional annual revenue of $28.2 million and pushing the company’s intake to over $544 million annually.