The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The private sector is calling for greater consistency from the Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC) in its electricity supply and alternative forms of energy in the wake of last weeks island wide blackout, with one business owner calling the situation “past frustrating”.

Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation chief executive Edison Sumner noted that many small business operations did not have backup generators to supply them with electricity in the event of blackouts and were solely dependent on BEC. “Many of the small businesses do not have backup generators. They simply cannot afford it. For them there is a 100 per cent reliance on BEC. It’s just too costly for many stand alone operations. That’s why we have been talking about alternative forms of energy. This has an adverse effect on businesses in general,” said Mr Sumner.

“The cost of energy in the country is already too high and the frequency of power outages is too often especially for the summer months. This affects the flow of business, efficiency and productivity. Many businesses also have sensitive equipment and frequent outages could cost significant damages to their equipment. It is incumbent of the management at BEC and the union to ensure that these types of outages are held to a minimum and ensure that businesses and residents get value for what they are paying. Give the high cost of energy in the country compared to others in the region it is not unreasonable to demand a more consistent energy supply,” Mr Sumner said.

Lana Lee Brogdon, president of New Oriental Cleaners and director of public relations for the Chamber told Tribune Business that four of the dry cleaning chain’s outlets did not have back-up generators and that frequent outages on Friday had adversely impacted business. “Not all of our locations have generators. I think three times the power was cut at all of our locations and we’re computerized. We don’t have generators at those small plants so we couldn’t service customers. We can’t produce if we don’t have power. We can run our generators but we’re paying diesel for those. We only have them in our production plants because it’s a necessity now.”

“It’s not feasible for us to put a generator everywhere. When you have a power company why do you have to go and have a generator. It’s past frustrating not only because our computers do down but the different levels of current is burning up equipment. Trying to put a claim through BEC is more of a headache than it’s worth. We ahem replaced countless computers and all kinds of equipment.”

Mark Turnquest, of Mark A. Turnquest Consulting said that the country’s major electricity supplier has to “up its game”. “We are really are getting charged too much for electricity. The cost is not coming down fast enough. When you have a major blackout you lose a lot of sales, it becomes very unsafe and a lot of times it knocks out your equipment. You cannot get quick resolution from BEC. Normally a lot of times the insurance company gives you a difficult time in determining whether the equipment was damaged based on an outage. They have to determine if the outage caused it. BEC has to up its game. The event Thursday night especially for local restaurants and bars, they lost a lot of money. It went out after 9 pm and a lot of them lost a lot of money and unfortunately many of them don’t have generators,” said Mr Turnquest.

“My advice to small business owners knowing that BEC has major challenges , they need to somewhat try and invest in a miniature kind of generator so that they do not lose momentum. I am saddened to know that this is just the beginning of the summer period and we are having these massive blackouts,” Mr Turnquest said.