The Tribune

By FAY SIMMONS

TRIBUNE Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMAS Power & Light’s (BPL) executive chairman yesterday admitted it will take more than promises for the utility to regain customers’ trust after frequent, long-lasting island-wide and community outages spread beyond multiple Family Islands to New Providence.

Christina Alston, in apologising to customers after another weekend of power outages across New Providence, stressed that the state-owned utility understands the hardship caused by the disruptions and is working to stabilise an electricity system strained by aging infrastructure, record electricity demand and recent equipment failures.

She also conceded that rebuilding public trust will require results rather than promises. "I know that assurances alone will not restore confidence in BPL," said Ms Alston. "Confidence will come from measurable improvements, greater reliability and clearer communication. We accept that responsibility, and we know the Bahamian people deserve better."

Meanwhile, Christopher Hanna, president of the Bahamas Electrical Utility Managerial Union, which represents BPL’s middle managers, argued that similar scrutiny should be applied to Bahamas Grid Company, the entity that was created to own and manage New Providence’s electricity grid, which has largely escaped attention amid the focus on BPL.

“I listen to the news and I listen to everybody and all the talking,” Mr Hanna said. “But I don’t know why nobody asking what’s happening with Bahamas Grid Company.

“Bahamas Grid Company is actually in charge of T and D, transmission and distribution. I would say you maybe need to talk to the two, but I ain’t hear nobody mention Bahamas Grid Company.”

Speaking in a video message following several days of outages, including last Wednesday's island-wide blackout and continuing interruptions over the Emancipation Day holiday weekend, Ms Alston said investigations into the electrical fire at the Blue Hills power station are continuing while BPL focuses on restoring reliability.

"I understand the frustration," Ms Alston said. "I know that when the power goes off, it's more than just an inconvenience. It affects your ability to work and care for your family, operate your business and feel comfortable in your own home. On behalf of Bahamas Power & Light, I sincerely apologise for the hardship these disruptions have caused."

She said preliminary assessments indicate a suspected fault in one of the underground cables led to the transformer fire that triggered Wednesday's island-wide outage, adding that investigations are continuing to determine exactly what happened and identify measures to reduce the risk of a similar incident.

"The challenges facing BPL did not develop overnight," said Ms Alston. "We are operating with aging generation equipment and a grid that has been under strain for many years."

She added that record-breaking heat, equipment failures and recent fires have placed even greater pressure on the electricity system, contributing to widespread outages.

Ms Alston acknowledged that contingency plans have their limits when multiple major events occur in quick succession, but said BPL's immediate priority is to stabilise the system, safely return equipment to service and reduce both the frequency and duration of outages while continuing longer-term investments to modernise the grid.

Her comments came days after BPL chief operating officer, Anthony Christie, warned that record electricity demand had pushed parts of New Providence's network close to capacity, with overloaded circuits and transformers increasing the risk of outages during the holiday weekend.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Mr Christie said BPL was dealing with multiple equipment issues across New Providence, including a cable fault affecting western New Providence from Albany through the airport and Coral Harbour, as well as a transformer overload in the Palmdale area.

"We have a number of areas experiencing overloads," said Mr Christie. "We're in a period of high temperatures and high demand on our system, so we're seeing outages that aren't common during the summer. Our teams are working to restore service to all customers, but it is a challenge right now."

Mr Christie said the utility has seen demand continue to rise over recent months, and urged customers to reduce electricity consumption, particularly air conditioning use, while also calling on large commercial customers and government agencies to help lower demand on the grid.

"We've seen an increase in demand, and we're approaching our capacity," he said. "Many of our circuits are overloaded, and some transformers are operating at peak capacity. We're balancing the load and monitoring the system closely."

Asked whether load shedding could occur over the holiday weekend, Mr Christie said BPL was monitoring the system closely but could not predict whether it would become necessary.

However, BPL announced rotational load shedding on Saturday to facilitate repairs to a damaged cable affecting western New Providence. The utility said customers in several western areas would lose power between noon and 4pm, while other areas would be without electricity between 4pm and 8pm. 

BPL said the schedule was intended to allow Coral Harbour, which had been without electricity for an extended period, to receive power while repair work continued.

Meanwhile, Verron Darville, deputy director of energy in the Ministry of Energy, Utilities and Aviation, said the Government has asked ministries and agencies to switch to back-up generators during periods of peak demand to free-up electricity for residential customers and small businesses.

Mr Darville said the ministry has also spent the past three years conducting energy audits for government agencies and large private consumers, with recommendations tailored to each facility's energy use to help reduce demand on the national grid.