St. Lucia Government Moving To Allow Competition Within Energy Sector

CASTRIES, St. Lucia CMC – The St. Lucia government has signalled its intention to amend existing legislation so as to allow for competition in the generation of electricity.

The St. Lucia Electricity Services Limited (LUCELEC) has a monopoly on the transmission and distribution of electricity here, but Energy Minister Dr. James Fletcher says that while transmission and distribution will remain the exclusive purview of LUCELEC, competition in electricity generation is critical.

“Where generation is concerned we see it as absolutely necessary that we create the conditions for the entrance of independent power producers.

“We are not looking for companies to come in and use diesel to generate electricity but those that can get into the use of wind, geothermal, waste, bio gas, and solar pv to generate electricity, so we have signalled that intention to LUCELEC and I think they understand that,” the Minister said.

Fletcher said that while the market is far too small to invite competition for transmission and distribution of power, his ministry and LUCELEC have to work together to make the initiative work.

“Under the Electricity Supply Act LUCELEC has a mandate to not just make the peak demand for electricity, but to do so even if two of its generators are down. This means that the company has to carry a certain excess generating capacity. The peak demand at present is somewhere around 60 mega watts I think LUCELEC has close to 80 megawatts of installed capacity.

“If the government is moving with a renewable energy portfolio and is inviting independent power producers to come in, they have to work with LUCELEC to ensure that there are minimum standard assets.

“You do not want LUCELEC to now have a lot of generating capacity that they would have invested in or that they would be investing in, for as the demand for electricity grows, LUCELEC has to grow and expand its generating capacity, to match that demand,” he noted.

Fletcher said his technical staff has been meeting regularly with the electricity company, and up until now, its response has been positive and hopes that their support will not waiver.