Legislation that would give the Minister of Home Affairs the power to suspend the integrated resource planning process if deemed in the public interest was passed by the House of Assembly on Friday.

The Electricity Amendment Act 2026 will ensure consumer affordability protections are “integral” to the Integrated Resource Plan, a blueprint for the island’s future energy mix, Alexa Lightbourne told the House.

The IRP is the principal tool used to guide Bermuda’s electricity future.

It informs decisions on generation, renewable energy, system reliability and long-term energy costs.

The Opposition warned of potential ministerial interference and said it would support more responsibility being held by the Regulatory Authority.

A sound IRP is the difference between a transition that lowers bills and one that raises them, Ms Lightbourne said.

She said: “The promises of 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2025 cannot be made true through the current IRP process built on the assumptions of another era and misaligned with the policy of an elected government.

“Under the current framework, the IRP is authored by the utility, we know that the utility is a commercial enterprise who answers lawfully to its shareholders and plans accordingly to its commercial interests.”

Ms Lightbourne said the RA then refines what the utility submits in consultation with the Government’s policy.

“The Government, which promised the people relief and a better standard of living, holds the responsibility without the statutory means, three entities, three different objectives,” she said.

“The structure itself produced this misalignment and this Bill corrects it by ensuring that regulatory accountability also considers the public interest,” she added.

Ms Lightbourne said spending further resources to “complete a plan that is misaligned with the Government’s policy”, considers the expansion of technology and studies at the expense of the ratepayer, towards a confined time frame of 2035.

She said: “That time frame would be unfair, runs contrary to affordability and does not serve the public interest.”

She said the amendment will define the integrated resource planning process as a process by which the IRP is requested, submitted and considered for approval under the Electricity Act 2016.

“It will insert a new public interest power enabling the minister, after consultation and where the statutory test is met, to make an order for the suspension and reconstitution of all or part of the IRP process,” she added.

The legislation allows the minister — after consulting with the RA and the Transmission, Distribution and Retail licensee — to make an order to suspend or reconstitute any part of the IRP process, but only where a statutory test is met.

Such a test requires the minister to be satisfied that the continuation of the IRP process would pose a risk to the reliability, sustainability or affordability or energy supply, or that action is necessary to ensure consistency between the government policy and proposed IRP.

Ms Lightbourne said an IRP suspension must state reasons for the order, the period of suspension that part or parts of the IRP process that must be constituted and any directions necessary for the RA to give.

The order will be subject to negative resolution procedure and the period of suspension cannot exceed two years.

The minister said from the commencement of legislation’s enactment, the pace and direction of Bermuda’s energy transition will be advanced by single alignment with the policies of the Government the people chose.

“It will consider and include our people, the household installing rooftop solar, the renter who depends entirely on the grid, the senior on a fixed income and the small business watching its operational costs,” she added.

Several Opposition MPs expressed concerns over aspects of the legislation, mainly the powers given to the minister.

Michael Fahy, the Shadow Minister of Economy, Labour and Housing, said more information was needed on what happens with the IRP after the legislation was passed.

He said there was potential for “ministerial interference” and said he anticipated legal action by the utility company in the event of the suspension or reconstitution of the IRP.

Scott Pearman, deputy Opposition leader, and Shadow Attorney-General and Shadow Minister of Municipalities, said he was confident that Ms Lightbourne wanted to bring down cost and secure more reliable energy.

However, he said: “The solution she is proposing in this legislation is not the right solution. Give more powers to the RA … you’ll have our support for that.”

He said the One Bermuda Alliance was not clear on the legislation’s intent.

Mr Pearman said: “What we want is a plan going forward on how everyone is going to afford to pay their bills.

“It lacks a whole lot of details on what the intent is,” he said.

Dwayne Robinson, the Shadow Minister of Home and Community Affairs, questioned the difference between the “ministerial order” proposed in the amendment and “ministerial order and declarations” that are allowed in the 2016 Act.

Ms Lightbourne said the powers prescribed in the amendment “do not create wholesale ministerial discretion”.

She said her input would be required in “specific circumstances” while prioritising the public’s interest.

She said successive governments have tried to “right size” electricity transitions but she noted that there was a “disconnect” between the interest of the Government in its policy and the ability to carry it out.