The Tribune

By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Electricity Corporation claims it was not responsible for the power outage that interrupted ZNS’ live broadcast of the 40th Independence celebrations at Clifford Part on Tuesday night.

Two hours into the broadcast, thousands of Bahamians were unable to watch the celebrations after a circuit overload cut the Broadcasting Corporation’s broadcast.

In a press release, BEC said the interruption was the fault of those responsible for organising the Independence celebrations. It said that the organisers neglected to meet with BEC to discuss their electricity needs for the event.

“As is the Corporation’s policy, ahead of the event, discussions were had with relevant agencies responsible for organizing the independence celebrations. At this time, they were advised of the available electrical capacity at the site and would have notified the Corporation of their anticipated demand needs for the night. After these discussions, there was no request for additional supply. However, on the night of the event actual demand exceeded the projected capacity,” the release said.

“BEC explains that around 9pm, an overload occurred on one of the circuits in use on the upper ground of Clifford Park. This briefly interrupted electricity supply to the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas’ remote truck and vendors in that immediate area. As with all major national events, a team was on site and was able to rectify the problem within several minutes. Supply was restored shortly thereafter and the live broadcast resumed. The Corporation partnered and will continue to partner with all relevant agencies to ensure adequate electricity at events, especially ones of national importance.”

Despite the disruption in the broadcast, the actual event was not affected and went on as scheduled.

The power was restored about half an hour later without any further interruptions.

However, on social media networks Bahamians criticised the corporation for the power outage at such a major event.

Said one woman: ”Seriously BEC? On an important night like this, you can’t keep the power on? This is disgraceful.”

And said another woman: “40 years later and we still having the same issues with BEC, when will they get it together? It’s not even funny anymore. It’s sad when a nation expects the power to go off at least twice a week, do better BEC.”