By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

THE Grand Bahama Port Authority has been reviewing information submitted by the Grand Bahama Power Company, which is required to submit a case to the regulator in 2015 in order to justify any rate increase.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Port Authority said that the company, with its regulatory expert consultant, has been working on GBPC’s rate filing over the last several months.

The company has submitted a number of studies and statistics in order to justify any change in rates. These included a cost of service study (which determines the actual cost to serve various classes of customers), a depreciation study, service level information and detailed financial statements laying out the operating costs and the justification for them.

The Port Authority’s regulatory team has started reviewing the information in depth and is working to ensure that the needs of the customers are being met.

Sarah St George, vice chairman of the GBPA said: “We have been receiving feedback from many customers and stakeholders in Grand Bahama which we are including in our demands to GBPC.

“Customers are obviously concerned about the cost of power, so we are pushing hard on GBPC to maintain the price as much as possible. We have also heard that we need to do more for the low-income customers, so GBPC is reviewing their customer classes to see what can be done for that group.”

The GBPA said that there are other issues being addressed to find creative ways to encourage economic development, introducing renewable energy onto the grid without sacrificing service and confirming that the rate structure being proposed is in line with industry standards.

Ian Rolle stated that the GBPA engaged a regulatory consultant who is very familiar with regional approaches to utility rate filings.

“He has been able to provide us with comparative information from other island utilities as well as North American standards. We expect that GBPC should conform with best in class expectations,” said Mr Rolle.

The GBPA’s regulatory team will continue negotiations with GBPC over the next few weeks and stakeholder engagement will follow.

The rate structure must be agreed by December 1 in order for it to be implemented on January 1, 2016.