The Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (“URCA”) issues this Statement of Results and Final Decision on its “Consultation on: Types of Licences and Exemptions for The Electricity Sector in The Bahamas – ES 05/2017” document (“the Consultation Document”) in exercise of its powers under section 38(3)(c) of the Electricity Act, 2015 (“EA”).

URCA published the Consultation Document on 16 August 2017, and established 25 September 2017 as the closing date for the submission of responses.  URCA did not receive comments from any industry stakeholders at the initial close date for responses and therefore extended the deadline to 31 October 2017 to ensure that its consultation process was as comprehensive and inclusive as possible.

The Consultation Document was specific to the types of Licences and exemption determinations URCA intends to issue for the ES. URCA did not pose any specific questions under this Consultation Document, but invited general submissions and comments to its draft standard Licences and exemption determinations for the ES. URCA particularly encouraged submissions and comments on the terms and conditions contained in the Consultation Document.

URCA understands the importance of an open and transparent consultation process and is therefore satisfied that it has complied with its statutory duty under the EA by affording all persons having interest in the subject matter of the Consultation Document a reasonable opportunity to make submissions. At the close of the extended deadline for responses, URCA received one written response which was from the Bahamas Power and Light Company Limited (BPL), and therefore thanks BPL for its comments and observations in response to the Consultation Document.

This Statement of Results and Final Decision now sets out URCA’s response to the submissions received during the consultation process and presents the final standard Licences URCA will issue for the ES at this time, namely the Public Electricity Supplier Licence (PESL), the Authorized Public Electricity Supplier Licence (APESL), and the Independent Power Producer Licence (IPPL). This Statement of Results and Final Decision also sets out in the Exemption Determination the criteria a person must meet in order to be exempt from obtaining a Licence under section 44 of the Electricity Act, 2015.

The remainder of this document is set out as follows:

• Section 2: Purpose of this Statement of Results and Final Decision
• Section 3: Stakeholder Comments and URCA’s Response
• Section 4: URCA’s Final Decision
• Annex A: Public Electricity Supplier Licence (PESL)
• Annex B: Authorized Public Electricity Supplier Licence (APESL)
• Annex C: Independent Power Producer Licence (IPPL)
• Annex D: Exemption Determination

The full Statement of Results and Final Determination can be found at https://urcabahamas.bs/decisions/statement-of-results-and-final-determination-on-licence-types-and-exemptions-in-the-electricity-sector/.