CUC is seeking court action to block the public release of a pair of reports containing details of its costs and the capacity of the Cayman Islands power grid to add new renewable energy.
Public sector transparency watchdog, the Ombudsman, had ordered the release of the reports following a protracted Freedom of Information dispute.
In a ruling which also highlighted concerns over apparent conflicts of interest involving Grand Cayman’s monopoly utility company, the Ombudsman decided in February that the two documents should be released.
A 45-day deadline for regulator OfReg – which has copies of the documents – to make them public passed this week.
A spokesman for the Ombudsman told the Compass its decision was now subject to an application for leave to apply for judicial review filed by CUC and the release of the documents had to be ‘stayed’ pending the outcome of the application.
The regulator spokesman added, “OfReg has been informed by legal counsel for CUC and separately by legal counsel for the Ombudsman, of further legal proceedings on the Cost of Service Study and the Incremental Distributed Solar Study which prevent the release of the documents by OfReg.”
No court filing in relation to the case is publicly available as yet.
Judicial review applications must pass a preliminary first step to determine if there is sufficient justification for a case to be brought. Once that hurdle is cleared, applicants have a short timeframe to file a motion with the courts, which would then be made public.
OfReg initially refused a Freedom of Information request from the Cayman Renewable Energy Association for the two documents to be released in full.
Both OfReg and CUC had attempted to argue that this was confidential commercial information that would harm CUC’s interests in the upcoming bid process for renewable-energy contracts.
But Ombudsman Sharon Roulstone dismissed those concerns on appeal and reversed the decision.
Her report suggested the opposite was true, saying it was possible that releasing the records would actually “enhance ‘effective and fair competition’, given that one party already seems to have an advantage”.
She also opined that protections for businesses from disclosing pricing information under the FOI Act were less relevant in this case “since CUC does not have commercial competitors”.
James Whittaker, president of the Cayman Renewable Energy Association, made an initial application through the FOI Act in April 2023 for the release of the two reports.
Whittaker said, “It is concerning and unfortunate that after years of seeking the information contained in these studies from both CUC and OfReg, and even after the Ombudsman ordered the release of these reports, that CUC remains determined to continue hiding information from the public on their costs of service and grid capacity for solar energy.
“It is obvious to many of us that CUC’s stated reasons for needing secrecy over this information lacks any merit whatsoever and obviously so do their claims of being a transparent company focused on the best interests of consumers.
“We can only hope the courts also agree that CUC’s self-serving desire to keep this vital information away from public view has no merit.”
The Compass reached out to CUC for comment and received no response.
- James Whittaker, president of CREA, and James Whittaker, the writer of this story, are not related.
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