ECS 02/2024 - Statement of Results and Final Decision - Revisions to the Consumer Protection Regulations for the Electronic Communications Sector

The Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (‘URCA’) issues this Statement of Results and Final Decision following the public consultation on its proposed revisions to the Consumer Protection Regulations for the Electronic Communications Sector (‘ECS’). URCA published the consultation on 18 September 2023.1 The original deadline for responses was 19 October 2023 however the deadline was extended to 30 October 2023 by request to allow for additional time to respond.

The Consumer Protection Regulations (‘Regulations’) were originally published on 30 December 2013 followed by a revised document referred to as Version 1.0.1 published on 7 February 2014.2 Due to the changes that have occurred in the sector and URCA’s experience with handling consumer complaints since the Regulations were first published, URCA found it necessary to update the Regulations to make them fit for purpose, clarify any ambiguity, and issue new measures in areas where consumers were not protected.

A copy of the full document may be downloaded below: ECS 02/2024 - Statement of Results and Final Decision - Revisions to the Consumer Protection Regulations for the Electronic Communications Sector

Downloads

ECS 04/2024 Preliminary Determination - Retail Fixed Market Review and Assessment

With this Preliminary Determination, the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (‘URCA’) informs Licensees, other stakeholders, and the public in general of its preliminary economic assessment of the competitive dynamics in the retail fixed service market in The Bahamas.  In this consultation paper, URCA sets out its preliminary views and proposals arising from its market reviews of the provisioning of key retail communications services in The Bahamas under section 39(1) of the Communications Act, 2009 (the ‘Comms Act’ or the ‘Act’) and any resulting ex-ante regulatory obligations for SMP operators. The services considered in this market review are as follows:  • Retail fixed voice telephony service;  • Retail fixed broadband services; and  • Retail pay TV services (including cable television services).    The full PDF can be found below.

Downloads

ES 05/2022 Statement of Results and Final Decision: Guidelines for the Electricity Sector on the Assessment of Fines for Breaches

The Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (“URCA”), as the electricity sector regulator, considers the development of a regulatory frameworks governing the sector to be paramount to meeting its statutory obligations as defined in both the Electricity Act, 2015 (EA) and the URCA Act, 2009. Through both Acts, URCA is empowered to impose a regulatory penalty or fine on a licensee who breaches a provision of the EA, a license condition, regulatory and or other measures. The imposition of financial penalties for breaches is also a means to effectively ensure compliance with sector regulations and established standards. URCA undertook the consultation process to bring clarity and promote consistency with respect to how URCA will exercise its power to impose a fine on a licensee who breaches a provision of the EA, a license condition, regulatory and or other measures. The Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (“URCA”) issues this Statement of Results and Final Decision (“SoR”) further to its Consultation Document on Guidelines for the Electricity Sector on the Assessment of Fines for Breaches, ES 02/2022, published on the 22 August 2022.  URCA also hereby issues the “Guidelines for The Electricity Sector on The Assessment for Fines for Breaches”, ES 04/2022.

Downloads

ES 01/2023 Statement of Result and Final Determination - Definition and Interpretation of a Major Outage In Public Electricity Supplier and Authorized Public Electricity Supplier Licenses

URCA issues this Statement of Results and Final Decision further to its Consultation on “Definition and Interpretation of a Major Outage in Public Electricity Supplier and Authorized Public Electricity Supplier Licenses – ES 02/2022” document (“the Consultation Document”) published on 1^st November, 2022,  in exercise of its powers under section 38(c) of the EA. URCA notes that the term major outage is defined in the definitions page of the licenses for a Public Electricity Supplier License (“PESL”) and an Authorized Public Electricity Supplier License (“APESL”) , but that term lacks the specificity necessary to provide guidance to licensees to respond to queries from URCA and within which URCA can provide the necessary regulatory oversight.  Specifically, URCA considers that there is potential ambiguity when interpreting this term consequential to definitional omissions of key elements of the license. To remove this potential ambiguity for the purpose of interpreting what is a major outage, URCA engaged in a consultation procedure to define these terms on 1 November, 2022, received comments from stakeholders on 1 December, 2022 and now issues this SoR. This Statement of Results and Final Decision now sets out URCA’s response to the submissions received during the consultation process and presents URCA’s final decision as it relates to the appropriate definition of a “major outage” as used in the PESL and APESL.

Downloads

URCA 05/2021 Statement of Results The Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority’s Standard Consultation Procedures

The Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority’s Standard Consultation Procedures (“SCP”) is for seeking licensees, stakeholders and interested parties' participation in its decision-making process. The SCP sets out URCA’s policy, guidelines, and procedure for engaging relevant stakeholders in consultation for relevant regulatory and other measures. The SCP contained herein indicated URCA’s current thinking and URCA will therefore update its SCP from time to time to take into account best practices and to reflect developments in best practices relative to public consultations. URCA will therefore update its SCP from time to time to take into account best practices and to reflect developments in best practices relative to public consultations. The full Statement of Results can be found here. 

Downloads

ES 09/2021 Statement of Results Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Scheme for Disputes between Licensees and Independent Power Producers for the Electricity Sector in The Bahamas

This Statement of Results document sets out a background of URCA’s previous consultation in relation to the establishment of an ADR Scheme for the ES in addition to providing the legal and regulatory framework for the ADR Scheme for the ES which is annexed to this document.

Downloads

ECS 09/2021 - Statement of Results and Final Decision - Cable Bahamas Limited’s Application For The Repackaging Of REVTV Offers

The Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) published today its Statement of Results and Final Decision in response to the applications made by Cable Bahamas Limited (‘CBL’) to restructure its residential and business pay television packages. CBL submitted the application for residential REVTV offers on 27 October 2020 and later submitted the application for business REVTV offers on 20 January 2021. Having determined the applications were matters of public importance, URCA published a consultation document (ECS 04/2021) on 19 March 2021, setting out URCA’s preliminary views and inviting feedback from the public. Today’s decision follows an extensive consultative process which included a virtual forum, focus groups, and written submissions from members of the general public. URCA has considered all written and verbal feedback in making its final decision. The complete Statement of Results and Final Decision provides details on how URCA arrived at its decision and also includes a summary of responses gathered during the consultation process. The document can be found on URCA’s website.    

Downloads