Governance
The Utilities Regulation & Competition Authority is an independent, multi-sector regulator established through the URCA Act, 2009. URCA is further empowered through several core pieces of legislation. The Communications Act 2009, the Utilities Appeal Tribunal (UAT) Act 2009, the Electricity Act 2015 and the Electricity Rate Reduction Bond Act 2015.
URCA’s amended legislation provides for a board complement of seven, four non-executive members, including the Board’s chairperson, and three executive members; the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Director of Electronic Communications, and Director of Utilities and Energy. Non-executive members are appointed by the Governor General, while the executive members are appointed by the non-executive members following a competitive selection process.
Ministry Relations
Currently the minister with responsibility for government relations with URCA is the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs.
Audit Committee
URCA’s activities are subject to the review of its audit committee. The audit committee is comprised of the non-executive members, the secretary and the external audit committee chairperson and meets at least twice every year. They are required to report to the board within four months of publication of URCA’s annual report on:
- URCA’s performance against its annual plan; and
- the extent to which URCA’s deployment of its financial resources has delivered value for money.
Annual Plan
As stated in section 41 of the URCA Act 2009, URCA is required to publish, no later than four months after the end of each financial year, a plan of its proposed objectives for the forthcoming year (the “Annual Plan”); and a report of the carrying out of their functions during that financial year (the “Annual Report”) whether as two separate documents or as a joint document. The annual plan shall:
- set out URCA’s strategy for the forthcoming financial year to meet the objectives set out in any regulated sector law;
- set out the broad priorities of URCA for the two years following the forthcoming year provided that these may require adjustments in light of any sector policy published by the Government in any regulated sector under the terms of any law;
- include a series of key performance indicators against which it shall measure its performance during the forthcoming year;
- include the level of remuneration to be received by non-executive and executive members for the forthcoming year; and
- set out URCA’s budget based upon its target activities for the forthcoming year.
URCA shall publish the annual plan in draft form on its website in accordance with section 8 by no later than the end of the financial year and shall give interested third parties the opportunity to comment.
Related Documents
The Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) Act, 2009
Utilities Appeal Tribunal (UAT) Act, 2009
