The Saint Lucian government has decided to delay a major piece of legislation aimed at transforming how the country keeps the lights on.
The second reading of the Electricity Supply Bill was deferred in parliament this week. The proposed law is designed to be a cornerstone of Saint Lucia’s renewable energy future, formally opening the electricity generation market to independent power producers working with sun, wind, and other clean sources.
Explaining the decision to pause, Minister for Infrastructure Stephenson King told his parliamentary colleagues that key stakeholders had asked for more time to digest the complex draft legislation.
“This piece of legislation is an important, landmark legislation that we must channel and pilot through the parliament,” King told MPs, adding that the delay reflected “transparency, tolerance and understanding” by the government, and “to be able to work together with the general public”.
The existing utility, LUCELEC, remains at the heart of the transition. Its national grid – the transmission and distribution infrastructure – will remain central and unchanged, as the government believes the local market is too small to support competing grids.
The minister recalled that the journey to this point began in 2013 and saw significant progress in 2016 with legislation, introduced under then-minister Dr James Fletcher, that “ended the 80-year monopoly that LUCELEC previously enjoyed for the generation of electricity”.
That earlier reform created the National Utilities Regulatory Commission (NURC) and set the stage for independent producers to enter the field, though LUCELEC retained its monopoly on transmission and distribution.
The current bill, he explained, is the product of years of consultations, technical studies and reviews by government agencies, regional experts and international partners. Among the organisations involved were the World Bank, USAID, the Global Green Growth Institute and Germany’s development agency GIZ.
An independent review commissioned by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) confirmed that the bill aligned with international frameworks for transitioning to a renewable energy-based sector.
Despite this thorough process, Minister King revealed that last-minute requests for more time had come in, notably from the Saint Lucia Chamber of Commerce.
“Only last night Mr Speaker,” King said, “I had the opportunity of speaking to James Fletcher, [who is now the CARICOM Climate Envoy], after receiving a number of calls, an opportunity to speak with the Chamber of Commerce, who’ve asked that they would need an extra two weeks, just to consolidate their thoughts on the bill. A number of other individuals have sent messages asking for time to consolidate their thoughts on the legislation.”
While public meetings on the bill saw low turnout, the minister emphasised that private sector bodies had been engaged throughout the drafting process.
King reaffirmed his belief that the act would ultimately “revolutionise the energy sector”, consolidating old laws in the process. He then formally proposed that the debate be postponed, promising to bring the landmark bill back for consideration “at a next, or subsequent sitting of the house”.
