The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

POWER outages stretching for hours disrupted homes and businesses across Abaco and New Providence over the weekend, forcing some companies to close, threatening refrigerated goods and prompting renewed complaints about the reliability of Bahamas Power and Light’s electricity supply.

Residents in parts of Abaco said the latest round of disruptions began as early as Wednesday and included an outage that lasted about 18 hours. In New Providence, communities reported repeated interruptions from Friday through yesterday as lightning, cable faults, damaged equipment, transformer problems and heavy electricity demand affected the network.

Abaco Chamber of Commerce president Chantelle Sands said Thursday was “one of the worst days”, with the prolonged loss of electricity disrupting normal business operations across the island.

“Businesses without generators remain at an even greater disadvantage,” Ms Sands said. “When the power goes out, many are forced to close their doors, lose sales, and risk spoilage of refrigerated and frozen goods. Reliable electricity is not just a convenience—it’s essential for supporting businesses, protecting jobs, and keeping the economy moving.”

BPL reported several separate problems across Abaco between Wednesday and Saturday.

On Wednesday, a power surge at the Marsh Harbour Power Station briefly interrupted electricity to Murphy Town, Dundas Town and Forest Drive. BPL later said service had been restored.

The company also repaired a damaged high-voltage cable in South Scotland Cay, causing another temporary outage.

A more serious failure struck the Wilson City Power Station shortly after 1pm on Thursday when one of its major generating units tripped offline, cutting electricity to Central and South Abaco and surrounding cays.

Northern Regional Manager Marvin Green said such failures would ordinarily take between 45 minutes and an hour and a half to resolve, but technicians encountered additional problems that delayed restoration.

Technicians eventually restarted the system, but electricity remained on for only about 20 minutes before another failure forced the station offline.

Mr Green said much of the repair effort centred on the station’s uninterruptible power supply system, which supports its automated operations. After technicians made progress on that problem and restarted the engine, the station’s main transformer tripped, causing another blackout.

BPL reported further outages affecting Central and South Abaco and Guana Cay on Friday and Saturday, although those interruptions stemmed from other problems.

Residents said the repeated failures have disrupted daily life, imposed new costs on businesses and deepened frustration over electricity problems that have persisted for years.

Ms Sands said she had heard of one case in which BPL reportedly damaged the transfer switch on a business’s generator, leaving the company unable to use its backup supply during an outage.

“I’ve even heard of one case where BPL reportedly damaged the transfer switch on a business’s generator, leaving the business unable to use its backup power when it was needed most,” she said.

She said many businesses have invested in generators to maintain operations, but fuel and maintenance costs further squeeze already narrow profit margins.

“Many businesses are now investing in generators, which is a positive step for maintaining continuity of operations during outages,” Ms Sands said. “However, generators come with significant operating costs, including fuel and maintenance. Those added expenses reduce already tight profit margins.”

She encouraged companies to invest in solar power where practical and urged the government to remove duty or value-added tax from renewable energy systems.

Ms Sands said lower import costs could encourage greater use of renewable energy, reduce pressure on BPL’s grid and strengthen the country’s long-term energy security.

Abaco resident Roscoe Thompson said one of the outages lasted about 18 hours, although he acknowledged that more recent interruptions in some areas may have had different causes.

“It was very frustrating, not just for residents, but you’ve got to remember tourists and business owners,” Mr Thompson said. “If you don’t have a generator, your business can’t operate. Credit card machines are down.”

He said the disruptions were part of a longstanding problem rather than an isolated episode.

“This isn’t an issue that has just started,” he said. “This is an issue that’s been going on since after Dorian, and it seems that we get promised by each administration that things are going to change. Then the summer comes and we’re right back to where we were last year.”

Mr Thompson said northern Abaco communities, including Treasure Cay, Green Turtle Cay and Cooper’s Town, are served by separate generation systems.

Resident Danny Sawyer recalled another outage during the week that began at about 9am or 10am. Electricity returned to some areas at about 3am, while others remained without power until 7am or 8am the following day.

He said the length of the outages varied.

“Some days, two or three hours. Some days, six hours,” Mr Sawyer said. “And you know, over here, if you if any bad weather comes through, you know, like bad thunderstorms, the lightning and stuff. They usually try and shut down the power station because you know all the copper grounds on all the poles.”

Mr Sawyer said conditions inside homes became unbearable during extended outages and recalled that one friend resorted to sleeping in a car.

Although he owns a small portable generator, he said many residents do not have backup power and operating one is expensive, with gasoline costing about $8 per gallon.

He said electricity had become more stable over the past day after crews carried out repairs.

New Providence residents also endured repeated outages over several days.

BPL said lightning storms, cable faults, faulty transformers, damaged high-voltage equipment and high demand affected numerous communities. The company said crews worked across the island and gradually restored service as repairs were completed.

Residents used social media to complain about the length and frequency of the outages.

“Not marked safe from Progress and BPL. ~7 hours and counting,” one Facebook user wrote.

Another complained that electricity had gone off and on five times and that partial power during the interruptions risked damaging household appliances.

Eastern New Providence was among the areas affected yesterday.

Rosemary Sands, of Joe Farrington Road, said her electricity was off from 10am to 2pm after a brief outage the previous day.

“We are annoyed but we're used to this thing now,” Ms Sands said. “You know, in the Bahamas, it's just like we're in the third world country. We have these power outages and stuff like that. It's just like we're in the third world country.”

However, she said she believed BPL was doing its best.

The outages also affected True Beauty Salon, where owner Shanice Carey said virtually every service depends on electricity.

“Every service we provide relies on electricity, from hood dryers, blow dryers, and flat irons to hot water and air conditioning,” Ms Carey said. “When the power drops, work halts, pre-booked appointments get disrupted, and sensitive equipment is put at risk.”

She said the salon tries to adapt and protect the quality of its service, but persistent outages create operational problems and additional expenses.

“Frequent power outages disrupt client schedules, strain our equipment, and create significant unexpected operational costs,” she said. “While we do everything possible to adapt and minimize the impact on our clients' experience, persistent outages place a heavy burden on our Salon when trying to provide quality efficient and effective service for our client.”