The Tribune

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS

Tribune Staff Reporter

lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

A WEEK after a catastrophic fire damaged Bahamas Power & Light’s facilities in North Andros, electricity has not been fully restored on the island.

In a statement yesterday evening, the company said it restored power for 90 per cent of customers, with 10 per cent experiencing load shedding while attempts are made to make additional generation available.

“BPL made significant headway in the hours following last Wednesday’s (July 5, 2023) catastrophic fire at the North Andros Power Station,” BPL said. “However, certain setbacks resulted in periods of supply disruption for North Andros customers between Thursday, July 6, 2023, and Tuesday, July 11, 2023.

“On Tuesday afternoon, BPL’s team was able to make additional generation available providing power to most areas of North Andros. To ensure system stability, BPL’s present capacity allows for supply to approximately 90 per cent of North Andros customers.

“Until the system is stabilised, BPL will continue to load share, but only 10 per cent of customers will experience periods of supply interruption, again in 4-hour intervals.”

The company apologised for the delay, calling the fire an “extraordinary event” while committing to developing a long-term strategy for the island.

Following the outage, some residents rushed to New Providence to buy generators, fearing long-term woes.

Residents previously said power on the island had become increasingly unreliable, but the outage last week left them bracing for sweltering heat for longer than usual.