Published On:Monday, June 28, 2010

IN addition to an already weakened tourist season, Abaco residents and businesses have been afflicted with a month of steady and frequent power outages with little hope of improvement in sight.

The tourism sector has been hit hard and the trickledown effect to other businesses is certainly being felt. "Customers are demanding refunds, some say they will not return," said Craig Roberts, owner of the Bahama Beach Club in Treasure Cay.

"Visitors can handle having no phone, or no TV," he said, "but they will not put up with no electricity or water." He said the recent power outages have hurt businesses during their peak time of year and when they were already experiencing lower than usual numbers because of the slow economy.

Mr Roberts said he has attempted to ease the frustration of guests by offering a compensatory three-day stay when Abaco's power problems have been fixed. "We're hanging our hat on the new power plant coming online and alleviating this problem" he said.

Another tourism related business reports that it has experienced more problems and expenses because of these outages, some of which have lasted as long as eight hours. The current spate of power failures has created a slump in the normally booming business of cottage rentals in Hope Town.

Peggy Thompson of Hope Town Hideaways, a property management business, noted that not all cottages have generators, and because of power failures, many guests either have to move from one cottage to another that does have a generator, or they are giving up and just leaving, some demanding their money back.

Refunds

"It has created an accounting nightmare with paperwork piling up due to transferring a guest from one person's cottage to another, as well as dealing with refunds," Mrs. Thompson said. "When I've called BEC (Marsh Harbour) they have always been apologetic, helpful and kind and we know they are doing the best they can," she said, however, guests will not put up with long power outages because the water supply (rainwater tanks) relies on electricity."

Because so many tourists are leaving and taking their hard earned money to spend elsewhere, businesses throughout Abaco are seeing a reduction in revenue, as bicycle, golf cart, and boat rental bookings get cancelled and shops and restaurants see fewer patrons.

In the midst of these constant power outages, BEC has had very little to say, releasing sparse and vague press releases that blame mechanical failures, heat and load while stating the new $200 plus million power plant in Wilson City will not be online until the end of the year citing changes to equipment to the change in fuel type and the litigation proceedings as the culprits for the delay. The plant was initially scheduled to come online in April, 2010.

There has also been talk, including on a local radio programme, that BEC is allowing this to happen and doing nothing to fix it because of the "Hope Town second home owners and environmentalists" who campaigned against the use of Bunker C Heavy Fuel Oil.

"It seems absurd to suggest that a government run company that provides an essential service such as electricity would punish all of Abaco because of the actions of a small group of people," The Tribune was told. From various sources it has been ascertained that BEC's head office is not intending to repair or spend money on the old machinery between now and the time the new power plant is put into service. The premise, which seems logical at first, is that there is no use spending money on old machinery that will be taken out of service in just a short time. However, another source said the machines are likely to be refurbished and sent to be put in service on another island.

At present there are 13 generators at the old power plant in Marsh Harbour, of which only a few are running, and an additional two that are not online in Sandy Point. Of these generators, ranging from 1.1 MW to 4.4 MW, it is unknown how many are actually in use, however, three working generators are currently unused due to a fire at BEC in November of 2009, in which the control panel that operated the three generators was damaged. No attempt has been made to replace that panel and so those three working generators remain offline during an island wide power crisis.

With visitors leaving and with some vowing to never return, the silence and lack of noticeable action from BEC has many residents upset. Second home owners, an important part of the Abaco economy, are fed up, and some are putting their houses up for sale and leaving. Local businesses, already financially strapped, have to pay an electric bill as well as money to fuel backup generators that keep their businesses going through the frequent power cuts.

At a time when economic woes are already affecting the country, and the world, BEC's lackluster approach to this crisis has residents infuriated and disheartened. Meanwhile, BEC's lack of clear communication to the public on what is happening and what they are doing to solve the problem is disturbing, they said.