Regional experts hold talks on regulating public utilities

Best practices in phone service, and in electricity and water supplies, will be shared among Caribbean and international utility regulators during a conference hosted this week by the Trinidad and Tobago Regulated Industries Commission (RIC) and regional regulatory bodies. Organisers expect the conference to elaborate on a regional action plan for, among other things, reducing the high volume of water lost by the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) and sister regional utilities, through leaks and theft. The three-day conference opens today at the Hilton Trinidad. It has been jointly organised by the RIC and the Organisation of Caribbean Utility Regulators (OOCUR).

The RIC, established under the 1998 Regulated Industries Commission Act, to regulate TT utilities of electricity, water and sewerage, telecommunications, and power generation, is also the local base of the Secretariat of OOCUR, a non-profit organisation comprising RIC’s Caribbean counterparts. Minister of Public Utilities, Rennie Dumas, will address this first annual conference. The event brings together delegates from the Bahamas, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, the OECS and Trinidad and Tobago. Experts from the US, Canada, South Africa, PriceWaterhouse Coopers, Detecon, and regional utility companies are also scheduled to give presentations. The theme of the conference is “The Challenge for Utility Regulators in the Caribbean.” Topics include lessons to be drawn from Trinidad and Tobago’s experience with  privatisation of electricity generation through PowerGen and InnCogen, and the challenges of providing a telephone service at an affordable cost to all. Jamaica’s experience with telecommunication liberalisation will feature in discussions on respective charges for calls between cellular and  “land-line” telephones. Conference sponsors include the US National Associations of Utility Commissioners, the University of Florida’s Public Utility Research Centreand the US Agency for International Development.