The Tribune

By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

THE first five rental generators secured for the Bahamas Electricity Corporation have been installed, eliminating the need to continue load shedding, according to BEC Executive Chairman Leslie Miller.

Mr Miller said another eight generators “are at the dock” and should be installed by the end of the week.

He said as long as none of the existing engines “break down or go offline” we “are in pretty good shape.” However, Mr Miller said that could change at any moment.

“Each of those generators carries one megawatt so we added five to the grid, the other eight will be added shortly. Another 27 are on the way and should be added in the next week or so,” Mr Miller said.

“So, for now, we are in pretty good shape and we should be okay for a while,00 but you never know with these engines, one day they are up, but another they are down. We didn’t load shed yesterday and don’t expect to have to, so for now we are good on this side.”

Earlier this week, a BEC official told residents to expect intermittent power outages because several engines were offline.

Deputy Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis said on Wednesday the government is now in the process of finalising the management contract with American company PowerSecure for full managerial control of the BEC.

However, Mr Davis, also the minister of works, did not provide a timeline for when the North Carolina-based company would assume managerial control of the corporation.

However, Mr Miller told The Tribune he expects the deal to be done in about “a month.” He also anticipates to be out of a job once a new BEC board is in place.

Last week, Mr Davis confirmed through a press statement that the government had selected PowerSecure as the new management company, giving it a five-year contract to oversee generation and transmission/distribution at BEC

The process is expected to lower electricity costs, increase energy security and reliability, and increase competitiveness as a country.