The Electricity Amendment Bill was vigorously debated last week in the House by the Leader of the Opposition and the Minister of Public Utilities. This week in the Senate it was the leader of the government business Dickie Bradley on one side, and Senator for business Godwin Hulse on the other. Bradley said he did have reservation at first about the bill.
Senator Richard "Dickie" Bradley, PUP
"When I got this before Hurricane Felix was threatening us and I was reading, I said I am not sure I want to support this piece of legislation because as a general rule you would think that it is a good move to allow what had been happening, for the Commission to hold its public hearings, receive the views of the public, and by law it must receive the view of the electricity providers and then it goes ahead and makes a decision.
Ministers must by law exercise that discretion granted to them, first by getting in fact the green light from their colleagues in the Cabinet and secondly, as this amendment proposed to us is saying, after consultation with the technical and professional people. No Minister I no government, whether it is red, blue, green, or other colors, can just say this law says the Minister can make by-laws so let me make a by-law. That is absolute nonsense if anybody thinks that is what the legislation will allow. So what is happening here is that it is now the government which will make the by-laws."
Senator Godwin Hulse, Business Sector
"But I am confused Mr. President. I am confused and I am generally not confused. The actual legislation, chapter 221 section 7 subsection 1, says, 'the commission may with the approval of the Minister make by-laws with the approval of the Minister.' Not on its own, not what it thinks up, not some Commission out there doing things that are usurping the government's authority with the approval of the Minister.
What it seems to do is to take away the power from the Commission and what it seems to do is to leave us with a little hiatus, a void as to say what is happening between the Commission and the Minister. Is it that they are not getting along, is it that there are certain things that the Commission doesn't have the weight to do because it is not perceived as being the government per se?
If on the other hand, if on the other hand, it is an attempt to say to Commission, look you have had powers beyond what you should have and in fact you're no longer a Commission with these powers in your right but you are and now a technical advisory body that should advise the Minister and then the Minister makes the laws after consultation with Cabinet Ministers, colleagues, and puts it to parliament, then that is a different situation. So to my mind, with respect to this, it downgrades the PUC."
Senator Deborah McMillan, UDP
"Undoubtedly, this amendment undermines, it hinders the work of the PUC. Essentially, as far as I am concerned, it emasculates the PUC. The people who are most qualified to regulate the public utilities sector have been rendered incompetent as far as I am concerned."
