October 2, 2023: The Independent Regulatory Commission (IRC) has appointed a consultant through the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), to boost its capacity during its review process of the Electricity Tariff/Rate.
The consultant is Regulatory Economist Ms. Lamis Aljounaidi based in France. The IRC appointed Aljoundai since the start of the rate review process last year. The nature of her work has involved analysing financial documents related to Dominica Electricity Services Ltd. (DOMLEC) operations, to assess what should be factored in its proposed new rates.
“Typically, DOMLEC will share a technical document explaining their position and justifying their position on the different parameters of the rate review. Our team [then] reviews that document based on international best practice; then we will have an internal meeting with the IRC technical staff discussing international best practice, what DOMLEC has proposed, and building IRC’s position – considering also the realities of Dominica.
“Once we have that position or comments, we ask DOMLEC for a meeting, and we would meet virtually or altogether in the same room to discuss the IRC’s position to each issue … we will work together with DOMLEC and their technical consultant on reaching common ground or at least simplifying the areas where we don’t necessarily agree and streamlining agreements and disagreements”, Aljounaidi explained.
IRC and DOMLEC are currently in the filing and review stage of DOMLEC’s tariff-related documents.
IRC initially engaged Aljounaidi as a consultant from 2018 to 2020. During that stint, she provided technical assistance to the IRC in various areas including electricity demand forecasts, tariff/rate structure and the geothermal project from a regulatory perspective. She has over 16 years’ experience in energy infrastructure development and economics, focused on renewable energy and networks. Part of that expertise was obtained through her employment with AFD, the World Bank and French energy regulator – Commission de Régulation de L’Energie (CRE). She founded PIA – an energy infrastructure advisory firm – which provides support in market and regulatory design, revenue generation, and tariff design. She has also led six assignments in electricity market design in other developing countries.
The consultancy is financed by the Caribbean Investment Facility Grant of the European Union, with funds disbursed through the AFD.
