NASSAU, Bahamas — Grand Bahama Power Company (GBPC) highlighted three key investments included in its rate filing which form the basis of its proposed rate adjustments for residents and businesses on Grand Bahama, The Nassau Guardian reported on Tuesday, December 21.
During a town hall meeting yesterday (Dec. 20) – which is a part of the 45-day consultative period required by regulator Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) – GBPC revealed that in addition to its five megawatt (MW) solar plant that is planned for construction in late 2022 and early 2023, it is also implementing automatic metering and an energy apogee advisor system.
“For solar, they have proposed a small investment in utility scale solar plants, 15 percent generation from renewable sources by 2026. Phase one includes a 5 MW plant in late 2022 and early 2023, there’s also two IPPs (independent power producers) under review late 2022 and early 2023. For the automatic metering, this allows for remote reading and operating of customer meters, real-time billing and outage information to the individual customer,” GBPA Chief Financial Officer Deann Seymour said.
“They are expecting to install 5,000 meters by the end of this month, with the remaining 75 percent to be installed in 2022. The energy apogee advisor is an interactive tool that provides homeowners with customized information on ways they can lower their energy use at home.”
GBPC is proposing a 3.2 percent decrease in base rates for residential customers that consume fewer than 200 kilowatt hours per month. The power company said that would impact about 18 percent of its customers.
For residential customers consuming 201-350 kilowatt hours (kWh) per month, there is no change in base rates proposed. This segment represents about 24 percent of residential customers, however residential customers consuming between 351 to 800 kWh per month – representing about 32 percent of customers – will see a base increase range from one percent to 7.5 percent.
Customers consuming more than 800kWh per month will experience a base increase of 7.5 percent to 8.9 percent, representing 26 percent of residential customers. For other customer classes, general service large customers will experience increases of 3.5 percent to four percent and commercial customers will see an across-the-board increase of 4.4 percent.
Asked during the town hall meeting why the GBPA would allow a rate increase at such an economically depressed time and in the middle of a pandemic, GBPA President Ian Rolle stressed that the final decision will take into consideration the concerns of the public.
“The Grand Bahama Port Authority has not approved any rate increase at this particular time. As with the regulatory agreement that’s in place the power company is required to submit a rate base application to us – which they have done and we are currently reviewing it – and also meet with various stakeholders and have events like this town hall meeting to discuss and draw questions from the audience,” he said. See complete Nassau Guardian article at https://thenassauguardian.com/gbpc-lays-out-case-for-rate-increase-during-town-hall-meeting/
