Less than three months after being appointed as the first chairman of OfReg’s newly formed Consumer Council, George Ebanks has resigned, arguing that the utilities regulator is not allowing the council to seriously tackle customer complaints.
Ebanks in his resignation letter, which he made available to the media, claimed the council has no autonomy to deal with utility companies offering “subpar” service, and that it appears its role is to merely fill out complaint forms for customers, which are then sent to OfReg “for a most bureaucratic process of oversight and undue delay”.
OfReg, in response to Ebanks’ damning resignation letter, said there had been “irreconcilable differences” between the chairman, his fellow council members and the regulatory body.
It said, “These differences centre on his behaviour as Chair and on the role and remit of the Council as an advisory body to OfReg to identify and recommend solutions to issues facing consumers in the utilities sectors.”
OfReg established the new council in December with the purpose of representing consumers and protecting their rights by identifying and advising the regulator on issues affecting them across the utilities sector.
Ebanks, however, in a statement to media, claimed the Consumer Council appears to have been used by OfReg to “try to garner some good PR from a ‘side-kick’… as no one currently has any confidence in OfReg as a unit of government and what it was created to attempt to achieve”.
He also claimed the terms of reference governing the council stymied members’ abilities to act proactively without first informing OfReg.
‘Skullduggery and abuse’
Ebanks was scathing in his assessment of OfReg’s commitment to protect utility customers in Cayman.
“I have now discovered why the consumers in these beloved Cayman Islands suffer and wait patiently, albeit unjustly, for someone to attend appropriately to their cries for relief from outright skullduggery and abuse of various of our utility service providers,” Ebanks said in his 13 March resignation letter to acting OfReg CEO Christian Suckoo.
He cited two examples in his letter – one of Little Cayman FLOW customers being charged for landlines they don’t have and another of a West Bay customer paying a monthly $25 surcharge for his water supply despite living off island for half the year.
“OfReg seemingly is just very satisfied to just subject both to filling in ‘complaint forms’ and then filing them and just sit and wait for infinitum to have ‘the system’ sort them out,” he wrote.
“As chairman of the newly created consumer Council [I] had and have a different view of dealing with subpar and ineffective service providers,” he added.
Calls for Bill of Rights for consumers
Ebanks also called for a consumer Bill of Rights for renewable solar energy, something he says “seems not to be welcomed”.
Saying “enough is enough”, he urged the PACT government to stand up for consumers and amend the Utility Regulation and Competition Act “to bring about a different kind of OfReg, one that is nimble enough to act boldly and willing enough to take risks on behalf of each consumer of the Cayman Islands”.
Ebanks also accused OfReg of using the Consumer Council as a “cheap employee” whose “sole role and responsibility is to face angry consumers”.
He said, rather than being a “seat-warmer”, he now intends to act as a vocal advocate for consumer rights in Cayman.
‘Irreconcilable differences’
In response, OfReg issued a statement on Monday evening saying it had accepted Ebanks’ resignation as a member and chairman of the Consumer Council.
The regulatory body said the chairman’s resignation had come “as the result of irreconcilable differences arising between Mr. Ebanks, OfReg and other Council Members”.
OfReg stated that council members had independently reported to the regulator that Ebanks “was acting unilaterally in speaking on behalf of the entire Council on matters on which they had not discussed or agreed upon”, and that this had extended to a “fundamental disagreement on the role and function of the Consumer Council”.
It also said council members had taken “serious issue with Mr. Ebanks’ aggressive and demeaning tone and behaviour in both written communications, and in Council meetings”.
OfReg Interim CEO Peter Gough said, in the statement, it was “disappointing to find the Chair was not aligned with the role and remit of the Council and was in conflict with other Council members to the extent that the Council could no longer function under his leadership.
“However, we look forward to appointing a new Chair in due course so that the Council can get back to the work of helping OfReg represent and protect the rights of consumers in the utilities sectors.”
Related Videos
