The Independent Regulatory Commission (IRC) says it is going ahead with island wide consultations, with or without DOMLEC, to determine what type of license should be granted to the sole electricity company.
Executive Director of the IRC Lancelot McCaskey told a press conference yesterday that the company was ready by June 2010 to engage DOMLEC in negotiations for new licenses for generation and transmission, distribution and supply of electricity.
But he said DOMLEC is dragging its feet on the matter.
“It was recognized that DOMLEC’s license had just over five years to run to expiry on December 2015. The IRC was of the view that prospective investors would have wished to be sure that electricity would have been available to them for a longer term and so DOMLEC was invited to begin negotiations for the insurance of new licenses since they had agreed the license parameters with the IRC during 2009 and 2010. DOMLEC gave their agreement in December 2010,” he said.
Additionally he said in January 2011 draft licenses were sent to DOMLEC for their comments before any engagement in face to face meetings, however the company has not commented to date.
“At one point they said that they were wiling to meet with us to begin the negotiations but then they called saying that their chairman fell ill and they have not said anything after that,” he said.
He said the IRC will not wait on DOMLEC anymore “because we have given them enough time. We plan to begin holding consultations around the country and listen to the stakeholders so we can determine what kind of license to give customers.”
DomLec should be brought back into Government ownership.
Then the Revenue generated by DomLec would stay in Dominica and not Florida.
That way when projects like the State House need doing, Dominica would not need to raise Loans (even at low rates and concession).
This is great! More competition equals better serve and price reduction.
My question is, Domlec has sole license to provide electricity to Dominica until what date? And when that date draws near, what is th plan? Are we gonna renew their licence for the next umtin years to continue to abuse us, or do we have plans in place to open the way for new companies to provide a more sustainable form of energy; i.e; winds, hydro, geothermal. Domlec has been given ample opportunity to make changes in their system. All they do is kill consumers with high bills, and take their surplus, profits whatever you want to call it and export it out of island. I for one, am fed up of Domlec. Change needs to come…soon
We now have another opportunity to break DomLec’s monopoly over the generation, transmission, and distribution of electrical energy in Dominica. We’ve been fleeced enough. In my personal opinion the government of Dominica should be the largest shareholder in the company