The island’s sole electricity provider has defended its decision to ask for a rate increase, insisting that it urgently needs the money to execute projects that are crucial to providing a reliable service for customers.In fact, Managing Director of the Barbados Light & Power Company (BLPC) Roger Blackman, said asking the Fair Trading Commission (FTC) for the 11.9 per cent rate adjustment was the last resort.He insisted that before going to the FTC, the company had to be “internally satisfied that we have pulled every lever available to us and considered all the options or alternatives”.“We are facing a financial situation that does require urgent rate relief and there are actually several projects we have had to defer, and of course every delay on a project has repercussions and while they might not be realised immediately, in the long run, there could have impacts and are cause for concern,” Blackman said on the BLPC’s Watts New roundtable discussion forum for July.He did not give details of the projects that have been delayed but said financial constraints had affected the utility company’s ability to continue to sufficiently carry out its maintenance programme.
