Caribbean Utility regulators conference gets underway

Meanwhile, this morning the Organization of Caribbean Utility Regulators opened its sixth annual conference at the Princess Hotel in Belize City. Approximately a hundred utility experts and professionals are expected to attend the three-day event to hear presentations on a variety of topics. OOCUR’s Chair, Floyd Phillips, told us what they hope to achieve by the event and as an organization.

Floyd Phillips, Chairman, OOCUR
“OOCUR is an organization of the regulatory bodies in the Eastern Caribbean including Jamaica, Belize, Bahamas. Our purpose is to basically share experiences as regulators so that the experiences can contribute towards better regulations among the respective bodies that regulate utilities throughout the Caribbean. The theme this year is towards a common regulatory framework and we are hoping that the experiences that we share here will contribute in many ways towards getting that framework in place; that is the objective of this conference.”

John Avery, Chairman, Public Utilities Commission
“This type of thing feeds into the overall integration movement with CARICOM and CSME in the sense that they ask investors if they know that from country to country, regulations are the same, the environment is the same. It makes it easier for investors to be willing to take the risk and invest in other countries because you have this experience, you have this positive experience of having operated in a country with similar regulations, similar laws and it makes it that much easier for each of us to attract investment.”

Melvin Hulse, Minister of Public Utilities
“I would like you all to look at your job in two roles: one, to make every technology available to our people, with quality but at a reasonable rate. The regulatory bodies, the P.U.C. must also ensure that the private sector and the providers of these utilities, we also have responsibility to them. We have to make sure that they as a business also survive and succeed and grow, but there is a difference between growing, there’s a difference between making a profit and that of raping and being greedy and gouging our people. That is unacceptable.”

The conference ends on Friday.