Consultants to give BEC advice by end of week

BEC Executive Chairman Leslie Miller

As of Wednesday, July 9, 2014

By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

THE four American consultants hired by the government to assess the problems at the Bahamas Electricity Corporation will present their recommendations to both bodies by the end of the week, the corporation’s Executive Chairman Leslie Miller said yesterday.

Mr Miller said the consultants from Powersecure, an international company specialising in electricity distribution after disasters, toured the Clifton Pier Plant and the Baillou Hills Plant on Monday and started discussions with management and staff.

Mr Miller was tight-lipped on how much the consultants will be paid, only saying: “They are professionals and will be worth every penny.”

Speaking to The Tribune he said: “They have been going through the system to see exactly what went wrong. They have been dialoguing with our people and they will make recommendations on what needs to be done when everything is finished by the end of the week,” he said.

“They will tell us what took place and how the problem can be rectified and where the problem emanated from. They are also looking at our system and see what we have and what needs to be upgraded. These guys specialise in this type of thing, they are the top four out of the United States in this field.

“Their prices are competitive and we are still in discussions, they have only been here one day so cost has not come up yet. A comprehensive joint investigation is expected to be completed soon and we will have a press conference to keep everyone informed.”

Mr Miller said last Thursday’s outage was caused by a shortage to one of the high voltage cables at a station on Soldier Road. That shortage, he said, percolated a problem at the Baillou Hills plant.

“All of the engines at the Baillou Hills plant then tripped,” he said. “The load Baillou Hills was carrying was then automatically shifted to Clifton. That then became too much for the engines at Clifton and they tripped as well. So at one point every single engine in New Providence was down.”

That massive power outage lasted from 9.20pm on Thursday until 2am on Friday for some and 4am for others until the Baillou Hills plant was back up and running.

On Monday, Minister of Works and Deputy Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis said the blackout has not accelerated the government’s plans to restructure BEC. However he did say it is still a priority for the Christie administration.

whybahamas 10 years, 4 months ago

The power in Abaco has been going off for hours at a time for as long as I can remember. Sometimes daily. Every time there's a rain storm, the power goes out. Every year there are many first time tourists that are so pissed off, they vow never to return. I can't blame them either. What does it cost for a family of 4 to travel to Abaco, stay for a week + with car/golf cart, boat, eating out, etc, $10,000 easily? Then suffer daily with no power? I can't say I blame them. How many millions did they spend to give us a new power plant and they still can't keep the power on! Where are our consultants to get Abaco's power sorted out? We're paying outrageous amounts to BEC and they can't provide even a decent power supply.

People of Nassau go without power for a couple hours for a couple days and everyone want's heads to roll.

sheeprunner12 10 years, 4 months ago

Soooooooooooo, what is wrong with yall $120 million new BEC plant???? Staff incompetence or faulty plant/distribution infrastructure????????

whybahamas 10 years, 4 months ago

It's 100% incompetence from everyone involved with BEC. Sure there are some good employees that do the best they can under difficult circumstances, but the whole company is a giant cluster !@#$.

asiseeit 10 years, 4 months ago

The only way to really fix BEC is to get the GOVERNMENT out of the equation. I am not saying PLP mind you, I mean all GOVERNMENT. Anything the Government (PLP/FNM) touches turns to NANNY, that's a fact jack! #FAILURES

Well_mudda_take_sic 10 years, 4 months ago

The problem today is Christie and his fellow corrupt cronies both inside and outside parliament; yesterday it was Ingraham and his corrupt cronies both inside and outside parliament. They have succeeded in robbing generations of Bahamians of a quality public education through successive failed policies on education and illegal immigration. But this was done more by design rather than incompetence; our corrupt politicians have always been fearful of a well educated Bahamian electorate and therefore they have done their best in recent decades to create an enormous class of dumbed-down poor voters. Many of these poor illiterate and undiscerning voters arrived in the Bahamas illegally and have since been regularized by our corrupt two-party political apparatus in exchange for their vote come general election time. Those who can afford private high school and university/college educations for their lucky children find more often than not that their children do not return to the Bahamas, especially those who have earned degrees in the more technical fields like the engineering and computer sciences. We all know about the brain drain our country has been experiencing for decades now under both PLP and FNM governments. It's now coming home to roost with a vengeance as shown by our declining ability to maintain BEC, Water & Sewerage, Bahamasair, and so on. Just ask yourself: "Why would any of our best and brightest Bahamians who are well educated and skilled in highly specialized areas of engineering want to subject themselves to the indignity of working with or under a daft dimwitted corrupt politician like Leslie Miller?!" Yet it's corrupt baffoons like Miller that Christie today and Ingraham of yesterday have planted throughout our government departments, agencies and corporations. As a result of this type of wide spread corrupt political interference inflicted on us, we must now hire expensive foreign consultants and experts who can get away with just about anything because government lacks the ability to monitor what these foreign consultants and experts are actually doing for us. In fact government now frequently finds it must also hire additional expensive foreign consultants and experts to oversee and monitor other expensive foreign consultants and experts that it has engaged....and around and around we go! All of this nonsense at a time when our country can least afford it. Yes, the brain drain consequence of our brain dead corrupt politicians does indeed have serious repercussions for the current and future well being of our standard of living and quality of life. Little comfort is gained in knowing that history will ensure those most responsible for our country's brain drain (Christie, Ingraham, etc., including one QC McWeeney who stuck it to foreign teachers with his apple many years ago) will bear this as their disgraceful legacy!

afficianado 10 years, 4 months ago

I concur. I'm pursuing a Ph.D in electrical engineering with emphasis on renewable energy systems and power systems analysis. It's sad that most students who've earned technical degrees don't return but just as you said we have daft, ignorant politicians "running the show" which leads to a company that lacks integrity and students such as myself don't want to waste their talents on companies of that nature.

ThisIsOurs 10 years, 4 months ago

OMG Their prices are competitive and we are still in discussions, they have only been here one day so cost has not come up yet

How would you know their prices are competitive if you haven't discussed cost? The lack of any kind of basic planning, budgeting and negotiation skills among our leaders is literally scary. These investors must go back band have the time if their lives laughing at the Bahamas and the fools we elect to represent us.

The PLP & FNM plans....To keep screwing you as long as your stupid enough to vote for them.

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