The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

DAYS after experiencing a power outage, parts of Abaco and Crooked Island were hit with another disruption over the weekend.

An unexpected mechanical issue at the Wilson City Power Station caused a power outage across parts of Abaco on Sunday, affecting Central and South Abaco and the Cays.

Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) said restoration was delayed, leaving areas including South Abaco, Murphy Town, Forest Drive, Hope Town and Central Pines without electricity for several hours. Restoration efforts began later in the morning, and power was fully restored across Abaco by 9.27am.

Roscoe Thompson, head of the Marsh Harbour/Spring City Township, called for greater accountability from BPL over the island’s recurring power issues.

“It's the lack of maintenance and the lack of upkeep that is that has caused this,” he said. “These generators were supposed to be able to maintain for the next 30 years when they were put in.”

Abaco residents had already expressed frustration after power outages earlier in December, which in some areas lasted for days.

Meanwhile, BPL reported on Friday afternoon that technicians were alerted to a separate outage on Crooked Island, caused by a downed high-voltage line.

The outage occurred in the Fairfield area at approximately 2.38am, when a primary high-voltage (HV) line fell, resulting in a cable fault.

BPL said the fault bypassed the intelliruptor installed near the power station and travelled directly to a recently acquired generator, causing a loss of power supply across the island.

The damaged infrastructure affected BPL’s M and E power generation unit. The company said technicians travelled from New Providence later that afternoon, and power was fully restored shortly after 8pm. The outage followed another disruption the previous Saturday.

Before power was restored, Pedro Marcello, BPL’s Regional Manager for the Southern Region, said efforts were under way to restore supply as quickly as possible.

“I understand how frustrating the inconvenience caused because of no supply to our consumers in the Crooked Island area,” he said. “However, BPL is undertaking every effort to restore supply as quickly as possible to those consumers via this unit.”

He added that two additional units remain out of service, with parts already in New Providence.

David Daxon, Chief Councillor of Crooked Island and Long Cay, estimated that power was fully restored by 10pm on Saturday.

“It's a challenge for residents,” Mr Daxon said. “This time of the year is part of the peak period for tourists, and also when most of the winter residents or second homeowners are on the island.”

He added that the outages placed an added financial burden on residents.

“Many people had to purchase ice just to secure or save some of their perishable items,” he said. “Some had to buy gasoline to run standby generators, and gasoline is a costly commodity.”