The Tribune

By TANYA SMITH-CARTWRIGHT

tsmith-cartwright@tribunemedia.net

THE union responsible for line staff at Bahamas Power and Light is accusing executive management of not being accountable to its consumers and employees, saying these are the worst times it has ever seen.

The capital and Family Islands alike have been plagued with frequent power outages recently. Some frustrated consumers feel no substantial reasons are given for these outages by BPL.

Kyle Wilson, president of Bahamas Electrical Workers Union, told The Tribune that Wartsila, a company working with BPL to maintain power supplies, is mostly at fault for recurring power outages, but he feels management will not hold that company accountable.

“From day one, when the two engines burned down at Clifton Pier, no one has been made accountable and we’ve never been given a full breakdown of the investigation,” the union chief said.

“It is alleged that engines are running out of fuel causing power outages, but we see nothing happening. Even if the engines aren’t running out of fuel, but there is some other issue causing the constant power outages, no one is being held accountable.

“It is not necessarily the line staff or the union members, it is the private company and the private management Wӓrtsilӓ that is causing a lot of these issues. No one is being held accountable. This is the worst we have ever seen.”

The Tribune contacted BPL for comment. The power company said a new system has been designed to prevent outages.

The BPL statement read: “In relation to the comments regarding Station A, and given the company’s concerns about the management of Station A in recent weeks, Wӓrtsilӓ – the company that operates and maintains the engines – has recently conducted an operational audit of the plant and has implemented new systems designed to ensure that recent setbacks do not recur.”

Mr Wilson has other issues with BPL management, such as financial concerns, saying the union was promised an audit “which never happened”.

Over the years, some people have questioned if “sabotage” was behind outages at BPL.

Mr Wilson denied any knowledge of this.

“I don’t know about any sabotage,” he said. “Madam, there are cameras everywhere on this compound. The only sabotage they should suspect is from the foreigner with those fake IDs, entering this compound unknown and deceiving the security. I suspect that person of trying to commit sabotage if you ask me.

“. . .Clifton Pier is a fortress so if it is sabotaged, why don’t they have who is suspected of doing it investigated? Bring in the police and check the place for fingerprints. You have cameras everywhere on the compound, so it’s easy to tell.”

In regards to his comment on fake IDs, at the beginning of the week, social media was flooded with images of what appeared to be a BPL ID bearing the name of a consultant on it with a photo of deceased actress Marilyn Monroe.

In response to questions from this newspaper, BPL said: “It has been brought to the attention of Bahamas Power and Light Company Limited (BPL) management that there is some confusion over an incident at one of our power stations. For clarification purposes, what is being purported to be a ‘fake ID’ is not an identification card at all, but in fact an electronic access card.

“The gentleman to whom the electronic access card was issued chose to put a photo of a famous deceased Hollywood actress on the electronic access card. The electronic access card was not used as an ID card, but to gain access to our power station at the main gate. As such, the allegation is false.”

Meanwhile, Mr Wilson is calling for an audit on the company’s foreign consultants, holding firm to his accusation of BPL running engines low on fuel.

“It is shocking to know that we are not getting any audit and we have so many foreign consultants,” he said. “If we have all these consultants, where is the money coming from? A novice knows better than running a machine without fuel. You know what will happen if you run your home generator out of fuel.

“Reliable energy is part of the national security of the country.

“. . .We have the hotels where these tourists are now coming in. We cannot be embarrassing our nation constantly like this with these outages. We have been doing this too long.”

He also said: “This is why this company is sort of failing. This is why we are having power outages after power outages. The union is trying to explain to them that they have to put some of the better employees in charge … promote some people. They don’t care. They bring in who they feel like and these people are unproven, with no track record. This is why we are the way we are.

“If you are short staffed then why did you get rid of two fifths of your employees and then bring in foreigners who are making these big, fat, Gussie Mae salaries without proving themselves?”