By JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

EAST Grand Bahama MP Kwasi Thompson said the Grand Bahama Port Authority’s proposed utility rate adjustment would be unfair.

The Grand Bahama Utility Company (GBUC) made an official application to the regulatory committee of the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) for a rate adjustment to be effective May 1, 2023.

The company said 40 percent of customers will not see an increase in their bills while the remaining customers will, on average, experience an increase of approximately $8 on their bills.

Mr Thompson said in a statement that the rate increase process would be unfair because the GBUC and GBPA are affiliated with each other.

“The process to determine whether to increase the water rates in Grand Bahama must be fair and conducted by an independent body,” he said. “The Grand Bahama Utility Company is an affiliate company of the Grand Bahama Port Authority. The shareholders are the same. It is therefore impossible for the GBPA to act as a regulator of itself.”

Mr Thompson further said the government must step in to make the proposed rate increase a fair and transparent process.

“In New Providence and throughout the Bahamas, water is provided and regulated by the Water and Sewage Corporation. However, if there is a rate increase it would have to be approved by the government, which is accountable to the people of the Bahamas. The Grand Bahama Port Authority is not accountable to the people of The Bahamas but to its shareholders.”

He continued: “The GBPA has in its statement committed to a ‘fair and transparent’ process which will be impossible when the decision is made by the GBPA whose shareholders are the same as the GB Utility Company. Even if the information is true and correct the process is tainted.

“This is why the government must step in and participate in this process. The government must sit with the GBPA to determine a process that is truly fair and independent. The process will not be fair or transparent if left to themselves to make a decision.”

For his part, GBPA President Ian Rolle, in an interview with Eyewitness News yesterday, said officials would ensure there is a fair and transparent review of the increase rate.

“The Port Authority is a regulatory body for utility companies per the legal agreement called the Hawksbill Creek Agreement and so GBUC is relying on the law. So, they have presented their proposal to the regulatory body that’s currently stated in law as the body to review their application,” he said.

Mr Rolle also hoped residents understand that the overall goal is for customers to receive quality service in the end.

“Provision of water and power on certain islands. We see the loss of portability on certain islands. And there’s absolutely no type of indication, no notice of when water is shutting down and power is shutting down on other places.”

He said their role as regulator is to ensure the people of Grand Bahama have an efficient utility system.