A sustainable development group is backing Government's move to enact energy legislation before a White Paper.

Greenrock has initiated several energy conservation programmes in the past couple of years, educating residents and businesses on conserving power.

It welcomed legislation in the House of Assembly on Friday to create an Energy Commission to regulate costs and to investigate complaints regarding suppliers. The Energy Act 2009 also authorises the Energy Minister to issue all licences.

Opposition MPs however, criticised Energy Minister Terry Lister for putting the "cart before the horse".

Shadow Finance Minister Bob E.T. Richards said the Green Paper earlier this year should have been followed by a White Paper setting out Government policy, before any legislation was tabled.

But Mr. Lister said there was no White Paper yet because he refused to "rush" on the formulation of policy.

He said the Bill set out the role of the Energy Commission and that a final Energy Bill would be brought before the Legislature in future.

"What we have here today is a big cart before the horse, I agree, but it's the way we had to do it," said Mr. Lister.

Greenrock however, welcomed the Bill which had its second reading on Friday.

A spokesman said: "This announcement by Minister Lister re: the Energy Act 2009 helps to open the door to small and large scale independent power suppliers and removes the 'special status' that Belco historically held in Bermuda.

"In some instances, one can say it levels the playing field when it comes to pricing and regulation.

"Greenrock understands the necessity to enact this Act before any White Paper is issued, due to the recess of the House from July to November.

"In that time, many new initiatives will be coming to fruition in Bermuda and without the power of this Act, there would be no way to regulate these new projects, which would further delay their implementation and benefit to Bermuda."

But the spokesman added: "Greenrock does raise some issues at this junction and would hope the Minister would be able to provide some public feedback: Will this Energy Commission established by the Energy Ministry be independent of Government or Minister influence?

"How will decisions of the Commission be appealed [ideally through the courts, not to the Minister… avoiding the SDO process]?

"What sort of term will the members of this Commission serve? And will they be compensated for their time and will this Commission be funded independently of the Ministry?

"How will they be elected? What sort of conflict of interest provisions will there be and what sort of disclosure requirements will there be for them?

"How transparent will the request process to the Commission be for changing pricing by energy providers?

"Will there be key performance indicators (KPIs) set to ensure the Commission's responsiveness and effectiveness?

"Outside of this pricing and regulatory aspect of energy in Bermuda, Greenrock is also interested in learning what will happen to our existing power grid system, and how this system will be modified to be more actively managed with multiple energy input sites, multiple net-metering communities, as well as transportation recharging stations.

"How will the traffic through this new grid be managed and how will new independent power providers and micro-providers be charged to build and maintain this infrastructure?

"Will the price which providers are paid include the cost of access to the grid similar to the feed-in tariff in Germany and the UK?"

Mr. Lister explained to MPs that the Commission will regulate all charges by energy providers, including Belco, and that any supplier must be licensed by the Minister with the exception of Belco which is covered under other legislation.

The Bill also means any individual resident selling power back to the Belco grid would have to obtain a licence.

The Energy Commission's chairman and four members will be appointed by the Minister for three years. The Minister can also appoint a specialist member, such as an engineer or lawyer, to assist in their inquiries, whenever specialist knowledge is needed.

A business will not be allowed to vary the price or charge of a commodity without notice in writing to the Energy Commission.

After receiving the Commission's direction, the company then has 21 days to appeal.

Commission members will not be allowed to take part in any inquiry where they or their spouse have a private interest in the company concerned, such as being a shareholder.