The Tribune

By TANYA SMITH-CARTWRIGHT

tsmith-cartwright@tribunemedia.net

AFTER a day of long power outages in parts of New Providence, public relations officials at Bahamas Power and Light have refused to comment or offer an explanation on the matter.

After receiving numerous complaints on the outages from the general public, The Tribune contacted BPL for an explanation as to why so many consumers were left without power.

There was an acknowledgement of the request, but hours later, Public Relations Director K Quincy Parker refused to comment on the matter.

The Tribune contacted a source who is stationed at one of the plants. The source gave an explanation as to why so many areas were without electricity yesterday.

“It was a transmission and distribution issue,” the source said. “These guys have been basically focused on just generation. You can produce a billion megawatts and if you can’t get the power to stay on it makes no sense.

“The system is ancient. It’s like putting on a new coat suit with the same old dirty shoes and socks. An overhead line tripped. It affected western New Providence to my knowledge.

“That’s the problem, they are too focused on generation and deals and not addressing transmission and distribution then it creates a major problem. I’m sure the public has noticed that every time we have a rainstorm half of Nassau is out of power. Every time. Check the record. There is always a major outage.”

BPL customer Inez Newbold said she was frustrated as she experienced a nearly all-day outage. She resides in western New Providence and said nobody at the power company could give her any information on when her electricity would be restored.

“I haven’t had electricity from this morning,” Ms Newbold said. “This is ridiculous. I keep calling and no one is saying when my light will be back on. I have been in the heat all day.

“When will BEC get it right? It’s like we are paying our monthly bills and every minute we have no electricity. This has inconvenienced me greatly, but who is listening to me? No one.

“We are a country of some 48 years. You tell me at this point we cannot have a continuous flow of electricity? What is the cause of this? I asked them and they cannot tell me. They are only saying, ‘We are working on it.’ It’s like everything is going wrong. The light can’t stay on. “Cable can’t stay on. Water either low streamed or off. I’m tired of this service.”