IRC Welcomes New Board and a Return to Full Regulatory Operations

Well here is some good news at the Independent Regulatory Commission.

After operating for a period without a Board of Commissioners, the IRC once again has its governance body in place. The Board’s appointment to the Commission removes an issue that had begun to affect some of its most important regulatory work.

Executive Director, Justinn Kase, welcomed the development, particularly after questions were raised in recent months about the Commission’s ability to approve major matters while no board was sitting.

“This is very good news, as now we’ll be able to forward legally our mandate and achieve our objectives without any hindrance from the utility questioning our legitimacy or ability to approve such important initiatives such as the tariff when we did not have a board,” Kase said.

Those questions became especially relevant during the DOMLEC tariff review, when the authority of the Executive Director to proceed with tariff approval in the absence of Commissioners was challenged. That uncertainty should no longer stand in the way.

The new Board is chaired by Attorney-at-law, Kevin Julien. Kase indicated that the governance structure comprises the Chairman and four other commissioners, who will oversee the affairs of the Commission and carry out the responsibilities assigned to them.

For the IRC, the importance of the appointments is practical. There is regulatory work waiting to move. The Commission has several matters before it involving electricity tariffs, renewable energy, DOMLEC’s operations and the wider development of Dominica’s electricity sector. Having the Board in place restores the governance structure required to deal with those matters without the uncertainty that surrounded some recent decisions.

Kase put the Commission’s position simply: “We are back to normal.”

The expectation now is that outstanding work can move with greater efficiency and that the IRC can concentrate its attention where it belongs: carrying out its mandate and regulating Dominica’s electricity sector in the public interest.