The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

HALF of the island’s power supply was knocked out yesterday after a private construction company damaged a major cable that linked two stations.

Arnette Ingraham, communications manager at Bahamas Power and Light (BPL), said the damage caused a system fault that led to the loss of supply experienced by 50 per cent of customers in New Providence shortly after 3pm.

The statement read: “BPL officials confirm that a private construction company damaged one of the main cables linking the Blue Hills Power Station and Big Pond Substation. The result of that damage was a system fault that caused a loss of supply to half of the customers on the island. The other 50 per cent of customers were not affected by the fault.”

It continued: “Crews were able to begin rerouting supplies almost immediately and by 4.30pm supplies were restored to all customers.”

BPL renewed its warning to private companies and individuals to notify the company before doing any digging in areas where underground cables may be buried.

“Digging without proper authorisation may not only result in outages and considerable damage to BPL property but could potentially be very dangerous,” the statement added.

“Private contractors should contact the company’s drawing office at either 302-1442 or 302-1415 before carrying out any excavation work.”