Electricity consumers face higher bills to help pay for multimillion-dollar upgrades to Barbados’ power grid, but the size of any increase will not be known until a future rate review.

The Fair Trading Commission (FTC) has pre-approved investment in three synchronous condensers (SCOs) for the Barbados Light & Power Company (BLPC), ruling that the associated costs should ultimately be recovered through base electricity rates.

BLPC had sought approval to invest $78.72 million in four new 20 megavolt ampere (MVar) SCOs through the Clean Energy Transition Rider (CETR), but the regulator gave pre-approval for three.