PRESS RELEASE-URCA seeks to define Major Outage in PES and APES licenses
NASSAU, THE BAHAMAS (31 OCTOBER 2022): As the regulator for country’s electricity, The Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (“URCA”) has a responsibility to ensure the provision of safe, least cost, reliable and environmentally sustainable electricity throughout The Bahamas. As reliability of supply is one of the primary responsibilities of both Public Electricity Suppliers (PES) and Authorized Public Electricity Suppliers (APES) in the country, URCA is seeking to clarify existing regulations to ensure that it clearly identifies what is a ‘Major Outage’ for reporting purposes.
URCA is cognizant that in The Bahamas small independent electricity supply networks are susceptible to disruptions; however, the onus is on suppliers to limit both the frequency and duration of outages. By removing any ambiguity from the definition of ‘Major Outage’, URCA seeks to ensure that licenced suppliers are operating in accordance with consumer protection standards and are compliant with existing Electricity Act, 2015 (EA) legislation and URCA regulations.
At present, the term ‘Major Outage’ is vaguely defined with respect to the affected customer base within the geographic area and duration of the outage. URCA contends that there is no clear definition of the affected customer base and geographic area, and the definition lacks the specificity to provide guidance to licencees to respond to URCA’s queries and limits URCA’s ability to provide the necessary regulatory oversight. As such, URCA has submitted for public consultation, clarification of these terms to ensure that its licencees have a more precise definition of a ‘Major Outage’ and their responsibilities in this regard.
The Public Consultation Document is available on URCA’s website and stakeholders have thirty (30 days) to provide written feedback to the Regulator, after which URCA will provide its Statement of Results and Final Determination.
The Consultation Document can be found here.
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Media Contact:
Arnette Ingraham
Corporate and Consumer Relations Manager
Utilities Regulation & Competition Authority
Telephone: (242) 396-5242
Email: aingraham@urcabahamas.bs
