The Information Commissioner has ordered the Regulatory Authority to disclose documents related to events surrounding the commissioning of Belco’s North Power Station.

The electricity sector regulator must provide the records by March 19 as a result of an independent review carried out by Gitanjali Gutierrez, the Information Commissioner.

The review was sought after a public access to information request by The Royal Gazette to the RA in January 2023 for records related to approval given for the NPS before the official publication of the island’s first Integrated Resource Plan.

The RA released some documents in response to the Pati request but withheld others on various grounds.

The North Power Station, commissioned in 2020, was optimised for liquefied natural gas and fuel oil but the IRP, which sets out the future of electricity generation, determined that LNG would not be an approved fuel in Bermuda.

Wayne Caines, Belco’s president, claimed that as a result of the IRP decision, Belco had to burn fuel oil, predominantly heavy fuel oil, without LNG, which contributed to a series of polluting events.

The Information Commissioner’s decision said: “Condition 20 of Belco’s Bulk Generation Licence provides that Belco shall not replace any generation facilities without the RA’s prior written consent and that such replacement must be consistent with the governing IRP.

“The RA also had to approve Belco’s request to include the replacement generation costs in the base rate for recovery through future retail tariffs, ie, to allow Belco to charge consumers to recoup the costs of the replacement generation.

“At the time that Belco submitted its replacement generation proposal, the IRP had not been published.

“The IRP process is mandated by the Electricity Act.”

Ms Gutierrez determined that the RA was not justified in relying on a section of the Pati Act that related to a reasonable search having been conducted, but said its failure to do so was in part remedied during the review.

Some documents were permitted to be withheld on grounds including disclosure being prohibited by legislation, adverse effect on commercial interests and commercial value, and deliberations of a public authority.

Other exemptions under the Pati Act, including confidentiality and unauthorised disclosure of confidential information, were not found to be justified.

Certain personal information within some documents was exempt from disclosure.