By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

MARCO City MP Gregory Moss said that the Grand Bahama Power Company is making massive profits and is now seeking to increase electricity base rates before URCA begins to regulate them.

While speaking at a recent town meeting in Grand Bahama, Mr Moss said that according to the 2014 financial statements filed in Canada by EMERA, which owns the GBPC, the vast majority of the $25.5m in profit it makes in the Caribbean comes from Grand Bahama.

“We should not be granting them a rate increase,” he said.

“Any attempts to increase the rate now is an attempt to sneak something through the back door before the real government agency takes over, and that cannot be allowed to happen – that would be scandalous and outrageous for the Port Authority.”

Mr Moss indicated that the Grand Bahama Port Authority has no right to regulate the GBPC as legislation recently passed in the House of Assembly puts the power to regulate the utility company under the authority of the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) based in Nassau.

The MP is calling on Port Authority officials not to approve the proposed base rates increase on consumers in Grand Bahama, but to leave it for URCA to address.

“The vast majority of their profits from the Caribbean comes from this one little island,” he said. “The company is making massive profits already and trying to get an increase before the government agency which regulates them comes into effect.”

“The government has been pretending that it is not regulated by them until we passed that bill last month, and now finally everybody knows that URCA, the same body that regulates Cable Bahamas, and BTC, will now start regulating GBPC, and that is why GBPC is trying to get the rate increase, not because they are not making money, but because they want to get the rate higher before URCA comes and starts regulating them.”

Mr Moss said this cannot be allowed to happen.