BEL vs PUC

The fight is on and the contenders are two heavy weights.  In the red corner is the Public Utilities Commission and their attorney, Senior Counsel Derek Courtenay.  In the blue corner is the Belize Electricity Limited and their Counsel, Vincent Nelson, Q.C.  And the referee in the matter is the Court of Appeal, comprising of Justices Elliott Mottley, Boyd Carey and John Sosa. 

B.E.L is challenging a previous decision made in October of 2009 by the court in which the court ruled in favour of the PUC. They are asking the court to consider whether there is the appearance of bias by Justice Denys Barrow who was one of three judges who presided over the matter in that previous decision.  Justice Barrow is the father of Kimano Barrow who sits as a Commissioner on the PUC.  BEL’s position is that the decision should be set aside and the matter reheard by judges that do not include Barrow because Barrow may have been biased in carrying out his duties.  Vincent Nelson Q.C. argued that Justice Barrow should have recused himself from the hearing because of his relation to Kimano Barrow.  But Senior Counsel Derek Courtenay pointed out that it is not enough for BEL to establish the relation.  He claimed that BEL must prove how and why the father/son relationship gives rise to bias.  

The problem arose out of an order that the regulatory body for utlitities, the PUC, gave BEL in 2007 to purchase power from New Energy Limited, a power plant that a group of investors wanted to build.  But BEL did not support the decision because the price of that power would have been based on the price of fuel oil.  So BEL objected to signing the contract to purchase the power on grounds that it was not a good decision for the company, and their customers by extension. 

The court is expected to deliver their decision sometime next week.

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