The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Hurricane Matthew has exposed the “inexperience” of Bahamas Power & Light’s (BPL) management company in dealing with the aftermath of storms, a former Cabinet minister argued yesterday.

Phenton Neymour, who had ministerial responsibility for the then-Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC) under the former Ingraham administration, said PowerSecure International was also providing a “buffer” for the Government’s own failings.

He suggested that the slow restoration of electrical services on New Providence stemmed at least partly from the Christie administration itself failing to follow set “policies and programmes” left in place by previous governments.

Mr Neymour said a ‘checklist’ of pre- and post-storm steps for BEC to take had long existed, but these were “clearly not followed” in the case of Matthew, hindering efforts to restore power to thousands of Bahamians.

He added that restoration efforts were being further hampered by BPL’s poor customer communications, a tradition that stretched back to BEC days and before PowerSecure’s hiring as the monopoly utility’s manager.

Revealing that he himself was without electricity, Mr Neymour echoed calls by others for BPL to provide details on its restoration plan and the timeline for reconnecting specific areas, explaining that this would eliminate much of the frustration and complaints.

He also disclosed that the then-BEC successfully fought-off his efforts for it to implement a customer call centre, something that has now been adopted by the Water & Sewerage Corporation.

“I’m extremely disappointed in BPL in terms of their performance,” Mr Neymour told Tribune Business. “It’s clear that they were not properly prepared for this hurricane.

“It also shows that some of the experience BPL has had in the past in dealing with hurricanes, they’ve either lost some of it or they chose not to adhere to the policies and programmes we left in place.”

Mr Neymour suggested that BPL’s woes stemmed from one or a combination of these factors, and added: “What is evident is that...PowerSecure’s inexperience in dealing with the hurricane’s aftermath is being demonstrated at this point in time.

“I’ve always stated that to procure PowerSecure on a management contract only serves to buffer the Government from public outcry. PowerSecure is taking the brunt of the Government’s lack of preparation.”

The former minister of state for environment thus suggested that PowerSecure is serving as a convenient scapegoat for the Christie administration’s failure, as BPL’s ultimate 100 per cent owner, to properly prepare for electricity restoration in Matthew’s aftermath.

“I blame the Government for not knowing what to do, and not knowing their backside from their elbow in that regard,” Mr Neymour told Tribune Business.

“They themselves have failed to carry out most of the activities we traditionally did. Prior to hurricanes, we ensured the power company carried out hurricane preparation programmes, and that the resources were in place.”

The ex-Cabinet minister said this involved ensuring rental generators were available, and ready for installation, should they be required in a storm’s aftermath.

“We also ensured BPL’s equipment was operational, and they had cherry pickers; lift equipment available, and available on the islands where it was needed,” Mr Neymour added.

“Exuma was always a problem child. We’d ensure those items were in place prior to a hurricane. We’d ensure there were plans and procedures for shutting down the system in phases, and to return to operations. These things the Government ensured were in place prior to the hurricane.

“We had them outlined at various stages - hurricane watch, hurricane warning - things for the power company to do. This clearly was not done in this case.”

In BPL and PowerSecure’s defence, Hurricane Matthew has been among the most powerful and devastating storms to hit Nassau in decades, leaving the monopoly utility provider facing a much larger restoration task than in previous storms.

It is grappling with downed poles and power lines, and the presence of collapsed trees in the vicinity of much of this destruction has complicated recovery efforts.

Still, many Bahamians are likely to question why BPL did not seek to more quickly supplement its existing workforce with former and retired employees, and third-party contractors, to speed up power restoration.

And, while it has sought assistance from other Caribbean utilities via CARILEC, the regional association of power providers, some observers are likely to query why it has taken PowerSecure more than a week since the storm’s passage to ramp up its assistance.

In a newly-released video on BPL’s Facebook page, Pam Hill, its chief executive, said PowerSecure would be moving to “double” the company’s line crews and equipment come Friday.

However, it is unclear why BPL has seemingly not reached out to PowerSecure’s owner, the Atlanta-based utility giant, Southern Company, for more aid especially given that the latter is in close proximity to the Bahamas.

Many are likely to draw unfavourable comparisons with Grand Bahama Power Company, which has also ready received support from the Tampa and Canadian affiliates of its majority shareholder, Emera.

Mr Neymour, meanwhile, said problems with Matthew restoration efforts had been exacerbated by BPL’s “extremely poor” customer service, a legacy of its BEC days.

As a result, New Providence residents were not being adequately informed about the areas BPL was concentrating on, and “the sequence of operations” and reconnection.

“I’m still without electricity. I’m struggling like everyone else,” Mr Neymour told Tribune Business. “I only want to know when they will get to my area. Once they tell me that, I will be satisfied.”

He continued: “When I was minister, I had challenges with them that they themselves chose not to address with their customer service issues.

“BPL has already been poor in that area, and it’s getting worse. In my time, I had challenges putting in call centre operations. BPL fought against that, and made life extremely difficult to improve that system.”

Dr Hubert Minnis, the FNM’s leader, also called yesterday for the Government and BPL to publish a restoration timeline.

“Bahamians have a right to know the schedule that BPL plans to follow in their efforts to restore power to the entire island,” he said.

“Right now, too many Bahamian families and businesses have been left in the dark – both literally and figuratively. They need this information so they are able to make plans and start their own restoration efforts.

“Many Bahamians are still staying with family and friends with no knowledge of when they can return to their homes. As of Wednesday morning, about 40 per cent of New Providence was still without power, and these residents’ only request is to know a tentative timeline of when they can return home.”