Minister of Energy Lisa Cummins Discusses Extensive Stakeholder Consultation on the Electricity Supply Bill, 2024

Minister of Energy Lisa Cummins says a wide cross-section of stakeholders was consulted on the draft of the Electricity Supply Bill, 2024.

Leading off debate on the bill in the Senate yesterday, she said it was being prepared from 2019 and included input from a large number of entities, including the Barbados Light & Power Company, Fair Trading Commission, the Government Electrical Engineering Department and the Electric Light & Power Act Committee.

“There can be no justifiable allegations that the development of the bill has been rushed or less than fully transparent,” she said, adding that an open invitation was extended to the public.

“Based on this early consultation, the draft bill was updated during 2020 and was later presented to the Chief Parliamentary Counsel for its review. In 2022, an updated draft bill, based on the guidance of the Chief Parliamentary Counsel, was made available to the Ministry of Energy and Business and was submitted to the Cabinet of Barbados for approval in November of 2022. Drafting instructions were given to the Chief Parliamentary Counsel and once the bill was returned to the ministry, in legal form, it was ready for broad public consultation.”

Cummins stated that in 2023 a consultation was held at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre where a large crowd gathered. The bill was again circulated to over 45 stakeholders after that meeting.

“Consultation and the views of a wide cross-section of Barbados were critical due to the pending changes to the electricity sector and this time those invited to give comments, up to this month, included development agencies and global energy specialists.”

The minister said further comments from local and international partners were still being submitted, considered and, where appropriate, included in the draft.

“This has been an exhaustive process of engagement so there can be no justifiable allegation that the development of the bill has been rushed or less than fully transparent.

“The bill paves the way for Barbados to overcome the technical and regulatory constraints to transitioning an isolated island electricity grid towards 100 per cent renewable energy generation. Moreover, the bill has been created on the foundation of establishing greater coordination between the key policy, licensing and regulatory agencies to achieve maximum efficiency and transparency within the management and regulation of the island’s electricity sector.”

Cummins said the bill before now the Senate represents one that “reflects our policy position of moving towards 100 per cent renewable energy whilst ensuring the necessary protective measurements and promoting fairness to all”.

She told fellow senators that Barbados was a small market and a single utility company was common, pointing out that across the Caribbean region the same obtained because of size and scale.

She said her ministry now had a full grid characterisation study, where the entire country had been mapped to show where clusters of solar systems exist, clusters on transmission and distribution lines, where storage needs to be deployed and for what purpose through the help of other partners.

(NS)