BTC blames BPL outages for increase in its cost of providing services

Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) blamed an increase in its cost of providing services on frequent power outages caused by Bahamas Power and Light (BPL), in the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority’s (URCA) final decision on its ‘Consumer Protection Regulations for the Electricity Sector in The Bahamas’, which was released yesterday.

The amended regulations, which were released in February, seeks to establish guidelines related to specific practices in the industry including contract terms, billing and complaints handling; the obligations and responsibilities of consumers; and the establishment of reporting requirements to gauge the effectiveness of the electricity sector’s (ES) consumer protection regulations (CPR) when implemented. Consultation on the document closed last month.

URCA said BTC expressed some concerns with the proposed CPR, highlighting that the regulator should take steps toward improving service levels as it relates to power reliability and power quality provided by the service provider to customers.

“BTC advanced that its cost for providing services had increased due to frequent outages, and suggested the use of the approach found in the electronic communications sector or the model implemented in Barbados to place BPL on a glide path to industry standard power reliability in the near future,” the document states, referring to key performance indices introduced in the electricity sector of Barbados in 2008.

“BTC noted that the ES CPR focuses on quality of service as it relates to customer service and satisfaction. However, the overall customer experience is shaped by the quality of power delivered. Further, BTC advanced that inconsistent and poor power supply has led to rapid deterioration or failure of its equipment.”

URCA noted that while BPL understood and agreed with the need for establishing customer quality of service standards, the power company suggested that this should be done having regard to the peculiarities of the service area to which the standards shall apply.  

“BPL stated that the Family Islands present particular challenges to the service provider and renders the standards set out, in schedule one, unachievable. BPL suggested the deferral of this portion of the regulations to allow the development of a separate document in conjunction with the service provider, which includes separate standards for the Family Islands,” the document states.

Nonetheless, URCA noted BPL’s support for the establishment of separate consumer protection regulations for the electricity sector and agreed with the objectives of the draft consumer protection regulations as set out in the consultation document.

“BPL considered there to be a need for clear guidelines to inform the expectations of customers in the electricity sector while the measures to achieve this should not place an unnecessary burden on the licensees. BPL questioned whether the complaints referred to by URCA in its consultation document followed the complaints handling procedures, which allowed the service provider an opportunity to resolve the complaint before escalating to URCA,” URCA states.

URCA continues, “BPL raised the concern that they are committing to a future document, which establishes quality of service standards as prefaced in URCA’s consultation document. BPL expressed that these consumer protection regulations commit them to quality of service Standards without a clear definition of what it entails and how it may impact resources.”

The post BTC blames BPL outages for increase in its cost of providing services appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.

source https://thenassauguardian.com/btc-blames-bpl-outages-for-increase-in-its-cost-of-providing-services/