The Fair Trading Commission (FTC) is severely understaffed, with only one electricity analyst and one director of utilities overseeing the entire regulatory framework for electricity, Minister of Energy Senator Lisa Cummins has revealed.Senator Cummins acknowledged the commission’s limited capacity, suggesting that it is not fully equipped to meet the demands of the country’s renewable energy transition and is outsourcing much of its work to external agencies.“The Fair Trading Commission has one single electricity analyst and one director of utilities and all the work in the energy sector for electricity goes through all of them,” she told an energy forum.The FTC is responsible for regulating electricity prices, overseeing independent power producers, and ensuring fair competition in the energy market, all of which are becoming increasingly complex as Barbados pushes towards 100 per cent renewable energy by 2030.“I know sometimes there’s an eagerness and there’s an angst around what is happening with the FTC, but one electricity analyst, one director of utilities, and they’re outsourcing a lot of that work to others who are working for other agencies as well,” she added.
