HAVE YOUR SAY: BEC power cuts

CANDACESCOTT 10 years, 4 months ago

my light was off from 2 pm to 10:45pm, which meant i couldnt cook or take a shower. It became so HOT that I took a quilt and pillow outside only to be attacked by bugs.
I laid down and look at the sky in dismay. 2014 in the Bahamas and we cant keep our electricity on...smdh. I felt let down by our governments... My daughter said there are some many things happening that make if easy to hate her country and would never recommend it to anyone to come to... I couldnt scold her last night... SHAMEFUL!

truebahamain 10 years, 4 months ago

i really feel its criminal what BEC is doing because when you don't pay your bill they shut you off there is no accountability I feel the wheels has turn for a next revolution in the Bahamas. get rid of all those political party .and start fresh again.

hj 10 years, 4 months ago

To me BEC is the perfect example that shows the incompetence and stupidity of Bahamian politicians. 41 years after independence and they still can't keep the lights on. Yet some people expect them to deal with more complex issues such as the economy and crime. Good luck with that

proudloudandfnm 10 years, 4 months ago

Man obviously we have no idea how to run an electric company. Just get rid of it...

HarryWyckoff 10 years, 4 months ago

The cost to business is immeasurable. Which costs do you want to hear about?

We have the obvious downtime
We have loss of equipment due to brownouts and spikes
We have the costs of additional equipment in surge protectors, battery backups, etc, which all need regular replacement due to damage
We have the increased costs in rent if our business location has to run and maintain a generator for the tenants
If they don't, we have the increased costs of our own generator in order just to run our business
oh, and the downtime, more downtime and more downtime.

BEC has had decades to perfect its one job - generating electricity. But it has failed, dismally. Any other business showing this level of incompetence would have gone out of business years ago (and having spoken to endless overseas techs brought in over the past 10 years, these failures are exactly that - utter incompetence due to lack of maintenance, lack of discipline, lack of caring, and worst of all, lack of any consequence for all the above failures)

Governments cannot run businesses. Period

Government run businesses breed corruption and laziness (why work - your job is secure for life) and are never profitable, due to the government in control 'dipping'. Nearly every other country worldwide has realised this, and privatised the vast majority of utility companies.

Privatise this company, and everything will change. Leave it as it is, and no amount of bad press, no amount of grumbling on Facebook will make a difference - they just don't care.

ThisIsOurs 10 years, 4 months ago

Years and years of politicians stealing, giving overinflated contracts to their self-owned, incompetent, overpriced, hastily incorporated companies, exhorting and accepting bribes to grant contracts to third parties companies, purchasing substandard equipment at overpriced rates, it is all catching up with us in the heat of 2014. I am tired of it. I am tired of them stealing crown land, I am tired of them quieting properties and stealing from unsuspecting Bahamians. I am simply tired of thieving, slimy, incompetent politicians.

B_I_D___ 10 years, 4 months ago

Forget hanging...that is too humane...I think we need to reinstate being hanged, drawn & quartered...start with some of the higher ups in BEC...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanged,_dr…

jackbnimble 10 years, 4 months ago

I think the union is trying to get Miller out. Every power outage - and there are many - is a reflection on him. Get rid of him and I guarantee that the power outages will stop.

jlcandu 10 years, 4 months ago

I disagree with Jackbnimble. These power outages happen every summer -- I've lived here for 21 years and every summer we have the same thing. Last summer however was a bit of improvement since the outages weren't as frequent.

Firing Leslie Miller will not stop the outages. BEC needs to be blown up and start over. The reason why we are being subjected to this "terrorism" over the last 41 years is because Frankie Wilson's company is supplying the diesel to BEC. Thus the governments of the day trying to generate electricity with crappy generators.

The only way to fix this problem is to privatise BEC (and not to the Sunshine Boys!) and move to the 21st century technology -- wind, solar, ocean. The technology is there -- we only need to have some representatives in the House who actually give a crap about the people they represent to actually do the right thing.

That'll never happen... I vote for a revolt!!

BSObserver 10 years, 4 months ago

The entire day wasted. No productivity at all.

I charge by the hour for my services. To whom may I send the bill?

bigbadbob 10 years, 4 months ago

i put in solar panels two years ago totaly off the grid now my power stayes on, next year it will have payed for its self. then i live free.

gangof4 10 years, 4 months ago

Let's sign an agreement with Florida Power and Light for (let's say) ten - twenty years and run a series of cables from the US mainland into the islands (as we do with telephone). The cost of electricity to the Florida residential consumer is just under $0.12c per kilowatt hour compared to about $0.43c for the Bahamian consumer. Let FPL sell to BEC (or some other privately owned entity) and even with a surcharge, our energy supplier could turn around and sell to the local consumer for possibly just under $0.20c per kwhr. This would immediately cut our energy costs in half and at the same time, we can introduce prepaid electricity meters (using a smart card) so that the ridiculous accounts receivable numbers that BEC constantly deals with would also disappear. Finally, in that 10 year period, let's encourage local entities (along with foreign partners if need be) to explore cost effective and efficient ways to produce sufficient energy - solar, wind, wave, etc - on a mass market scale, taking into account that we are in a hurricane zone.

Westgal 10 years, 4 months ago

I agree with you. This would be the best solution, however this solution would not provide the opportunity for someone in the government to have their hand in the deal, to get paid under the table!!!!! That's the problem with all the government run businesses. Thats why this country will never move forward, because of the constant corruption! Unfortunately it seems that most of our politicians have their back pocket at heart, rather than the people of this country. How can this ever change? Unless the politicians change their attitude and become honest and use the tax money to run this country properly, you will never see any improvements!

Well_mudda_take_sic 10 years, 4 months ago

Most of you commenting here prefer to have a majority ruled country and black PM. So just stop your whining and suck it up because voting on the basis of colour in our country today is guaranteed to get you just what you deserve! Elderly poor black Bahamians today who voted for majority rule in the late 1960s had no idea that back then they were casting their vote for an early death in their old age caused by the extreme overheating of their bodies in the height of Summer.

Honestman 10 years, 4 months ago

This is what we get when money that should be spent on new plant is used instead to put friends and cronies in BEC positions that are not needed. The position is exacerbated by an accounts receivable position that is much higher than it should be because of lax collection practices applied to said friends and cronies. The PLP won't dare tackle the issue - will the next government in three years time?

jboi242 10 years, 4 months ago

i will be honest

sansoucireader 10 years, 4 months ago

If BEC has old, worn out equipment replace it! No long talk! Don't want to hear, oh, it's man made so it can break down. That's the best explanation you can offer the public in 2014?! That reason is just not good enough. Fed up! Everyone is hot and bothered. Everyone seems to know the planet is getting hotter, except the people @ BEC. Prepare! Improve! Fix it! Where is the power coming from for Baha Mar? And the water? We have problems now, imagine when these big oversized projects finally open.

Honestman 10 years, 4 months ago

You are so right!

jboi242 10 years, 4 months ago

Bahamians so dumb lolol youll writing a bunch a dam comments saying this saying that ITS NEVER GOING TO CHANGE only way corruption at high levels change is thru VIOLENCE!

i will give everyone an analogy

plp = beat us with a ruler

Bahamians= little kids

if they beating us with a ruler and we never fighting back wouldnt they contiinue beating us with a ruler? wouldnt we get immune to it like its a part of life? thats the same thing whats happening in our country they know we wont stand up and protest and get violent so they dont give a fuckk.. so everyone please stop complaining its not going to change!

ThisIsOurs 10 years, 4 months ago

Violence? Is that how Martin Luther King accomplished his change? My opinion is the only way it will change is if we work together, we protest together. We are failing because they do not see a consolidated opposition. Divided we are falling.

sheeprunner12 10 years, 4 months ago

BTW ............. did Perry get the report back from Brave on Leslie???????????? BOL

Westgal 10 years, 4 months ago

There should be a law that no government official is allowed to have a generator so when the electricity goes off, it will have the same negative effect on them as on the general public. You'll see how quickly they will fix the problem then!!

Gladiator 10 years, 4 months ago

BEC don't have a clue how to run a business. They are obviously losing thousands if not millions of dollars TRYING to run that company, which they are obviously failing at miserably. All that money they are losing are Bahamians money, which we are all paying the Government through taxes. They may as well take that money we all pay them through duty, stamp tax, property tax, etc. and burn it as it is obviously useless to them if they can't use it appropriately. Why can't they sell the company to a private company who specializes in operating power plants? This way the Government will get a large amount of money from the sale to pay off all that debt they owe, we will all get cheaper electricity without all of the power outages. Also if the Government had any sense at all they would give Bahamians the opportunity to invest in solar power and enable them to tie it into the grid to reduce the load as well as increase the supply of electricity. We need to get rid of all those old cronies who are outdated and let the young, intelligent Bahamians who understand business and modern technology to run the country.

Reality_Check 10 years, 4 months ago

Anyone notice how Christie just remains tight lipped over BEC outages whenever they occur as if to say: "This is a problem to be properly addressed by Miller and not by me." YOU'RE WRONG CHRISTIE! YOU APPOINTED MILLER AND IT IS YOU WHO MUST BE ACCOUNTABLE TO THE BAHAMIAN PEOPLE FOR THE SUFFERING THEY ARE EXPERIENCING EACH DAY AND NIGHT AS A RESULT OF THE GROSS NEGLIGENCE EVIDENCED BY THE GROSS MISMANAGEMENT OF EVERY ASPECT OF THE AFFAIRS OF BEC!!

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