The five members of Bermuda's new Energy Commission will be appointed in the next few weeks, it emerged on Thursday night.

At a public meeting 'Reshaping Bermuda's Energy Future', Department of Energy consultant Allan Bean said: "We are currently considering the potential members of the Energy Commission. In just a matter of a couple of weeks we will be making the choices."

He added: "My understanding is there is one individual who would like to chair it, which is an important step."

The meeting, organised by Government, was presented by energy expert Sharon Pratt, executive vice-president of US consultancy BI Solutions, and energy pricing expert Dr. Miles Bidwell.

Held at Bermuda College, it discussed energy regulation as a means of ensuring sustainability, reliability and affordability.

A further Town Hall meeting is to take place next month on 'rate design' pricing.

Ms Pratt, a former Mayor of Washington D.C. and former vice-president of public policy with PEPCO (Potomac Electric Power Company), said: "Bermuda is thoroughly dependent on foreign fossil fuels and not only does that affect cost and affordability, it could also affect reliability.

"Bermuda is not an easy destination for transporting fossil fuels and with such a small population it does not have the leverage to negotiate the easiest terms.

"With only so much land mass there is also only so much you can store in Bermuda."

She added: "Bermuda is in the eye of the climate change storm. Risks are increasing there may be devastating hurricanes that could adversely impact Bermuda.

"Bermuda's regulatory mission is to introduce new energy sources, to attract independent power producers and to help Bermudians achieve great energy efficiency.

"How do we ensure reasonable and non-discriminatory rates for all customers, particularly the domestic ones?"

She said the Island's forthcoming Energy Commission would "establish and ensure standards around interconnection, licensing and consumer protection".

"Just as important is empowering the consumer, so we can reduce the costs and sell back into the grid from our own site energy generators," she said.

Bills also needed to have transparency, with a rate structure to encourage renewable energy sources.

"This Energy Commission is springing to life to regulate pricing and licensing, and the general rule is to ensure sustainability, reliability and affordability," said Ms Pratt.

"We want to have a pricing policy to promote more efficiency of energy production and consumption, and reduce the need for traditional generating plants."

The Energy Commission, as outlined in the Energy Act 2009, will licence power suppliers, regulate costs and investigate any complaints by consumers.

Dr. Miles Bidwell, who holds a PhD in macro-economics from Columbia University, said any fuel cost had to include a reliability-related cost connected with the generation of power.

"If the system has outages that reliability cost can become very large," he said.

"Having these two components is important because it lets you price electricity at the true cost. This makes buy-back costs and residential rates more efficient."

Dr. Bidwell, who advises the New York State Public Service Commission as well as regulatory authorities in the EU, said the energy solution for Bermuda was likely to consist of many "different options."