The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Electricity Corporation explained that a cable fault yesterday resulted in a lengthy power outage affecting scores of customers in western New Providence.

Residents of Skyline Drive estimated they were left in darkness for almost 13 hours on Sunday.

Arnette Wilson-Ingraham, head of BEC’s public relations department, said power was restored early Monday morning after crews worked through the night.

The disruption began at around 5.30pm on Sunday.

She said: “This was an unfortunate incident, but what I can tell you is that a cable fault caused the disruption. Because of that, power could not be routed from one area to the next which is usually the case when we have situations like that.

“I do know that crew worked all night to get power restored. They were able to do that at 5am.”

Meanwhile, disgruntled BEC customers who live in other areas lashed out at the corporation on Friday, saying they are “sick and tired” of the frequent power outages over the past several weeks.

While some consumers called The Tribune to make their complaints known, others took to social media to lambast the corporation, which has struggled for years, especially in the summer months, to keep the lights on.

One caller, who would only say that she lives in the Carmichael Road area, insisted that for the past few weeks she and her family have had to live in darkness as power outages have at times lasted for up to eight hours. The woman added that calls to the corporation were not answered.

She said: “I am so sick of BEC and its issues. For the last three weeks, we have not seen one single day that electricity was on for the entire day. Every single day it is the same song and dance with them.

“Some Sundays I come from church, and I can’t even make a meal for my family to eat because my stove is electric.”

Another caller criticised BEC for “having the audacity to introduce new disconnection penalty fees without being able to deliver a good product to paying customers”.