EDITORIAL - Where is Albert Gordon?

Albert Gordon has kept his own counsel in the three weeks since he took over as executive director of the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR). Or, rather, he has not shared his ideas and vision for the OUR with the public.

It is time, this newspaper believes, for Albert Gordon to break his silence and demonstrate that the OUR is on a path of change if it is to have any chance of salvaging what little public trust remains in the organisation.

It is on the matter of energy that action is most urgent. In that respect, the new boss will have to be skilled in moving in a number of directions at the same time, without losing sight of the country's several priorities.

As Mr Gordon would have been aware before he became head of the OUR, the cost of electricity, at around US$0.42 per kilowatt hour, places too heavy a burden on Jamaican businesses, contributing to their uncompetitiveness against hemispheric counterparts.

Indeed, at Mr Gordon's old workplace, the National Water Commission, power accounts for around a third of its costs, at a price and an impact that that agency often complained about.

The establishment of 360 megawatts of new electricity-generating capacity - about half of existing peak requirement - Jamaicans have been led to believe, will result in a lowering of the price of power to consumers.

But as is now being widely accepted, the OUR, which oversees tenders for any significant new generating capacity, badly mismanaged the bidding process, causing delays and public scepticism of the integrity of what finally emerged - including Jamaica's inability to attract a major international power company to establish a plant here.

In the end, the Hong Kong/Australian entity, Energy World International (EWI), emerged the preferred bidder and has lodged an initial US$7 million security deposit. There have been few updates about what has transpired since and there is re-emerging a public cynicism that this project will deliver what has been promised, including the keeping of timelines.

For instances, Phillip Paulwell, the energy minister, has suggested that new power plants, fired by liquefied natural gas will lead to a reduction of the cost of electricity to consumers by as much as 30 per cent.

Ever-rising whisper

Not only has there been no verification of such an assertion on the basis of empirical data, but an ever-rising whisper that this level of cost reduction is not feasible. The gain is a small fraction of what has been suggested. And EWI had the best price on offer.

Mr Gordon needs to urgently bring clarity to this matter which is of such importance to the Jamaican economy.

This newspaper, and others, canvassed the idea of a public-private sector oversight group to monitor the development and implementation of the project. This group would have as its mandate to review, and to speak freely to the public at every stage of the process, to ensure that it is on track and, importantly, without the likelihood of imposing additional cost burden on consumers.

Mr Gordon must say whether he is on board with this, has insisted that it be followed, and if yes, what is the state of its implementation. But Mr Gordon has to first assure us that he exists.

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